UCSB    LIBRARY 


IN     MEMORY 


DKLITKBKD 


Sunday,  March  14,  187$)  in  the  First  (Presbyterian 
Church,  (Dayton,  Ohio. 


OF  CINCINNATI. 


rfv  6  "kvlxyo(;  b  Kaiopevog  «at  (fraivw. — John  v.  35. 


CINCINNATI: 

ULM  STREET  PRINTING  COMPANY,  176  A  178  ELM  STREET. 
1875. 


AND  is  he  gone,  who  brightly  shone  ? 

Oh  gloomy,  gloomy  night, 
Here,  left  alone,  we  deeply  moan 

His  lost  lamented  light ! 
The  Hero  gone  ?    the  Prophet,  too  ? 

Why  does  he  cease  to  cry  ? 
Oh,  will  not  heaven  the  lamp  renew  ? 

Say,  did  the  Prophet  die  ? 


"  And  what  shall  I  more  say  ?  for  the  time  would   fail   me  to  tell  of 

Gideon,  and    Barak,  and  Samson,  and  Jephthah  ;  David  also,  and 

Samuel,  and    the    prophets;    who,    through   faith,    subdued 

kingdoms,    wrought    righteousness,    obtained  promises, 

stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence 

of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of 

weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant 

in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of 

the  aliens."— Hebrews  xi.  32-34. 


CHOSEN  to  pronounce  a  commemorative  address  over 
those  whose  valor  had  made  them  victims  in  the  first 
Peloponnesian  war,  and  around  whose  public  tomb 
the  cypress  had  begun  to  wave,  Pericles  thus  spoke  to 
the  assembled  Athenians:  "  I  deem  it  sufficient  for 
men  who  have  approved  their  virtue  in  action,  by  ac- 
tion to  be  honored  for  it.  Difficult  it  is  judiciously 
to  handle  a  subject  where  even  probable  truth  may  not 
gain  assent  in  the  minds  of  those  who,  through  envy 
of  deeds  which  are  beyond  their  own.  achievement, 
pronounce  all  that  is  spoken  to  be  exaggeration  and 
false.  For  the  praises  bestowed  upon  men  are  only  to 
be  endured  when  others  imagine  they  can  do,  them- 


—  4— 

selves,  those  feats  they  hear  to  have  already  been 
done." 

By  such  words  did  the  great  orator  express  his  judg- 
ment that  "  action,"  and    not  "  oration,"  should  si<r- 

l  i  o 

nalize  the  tribute  of  a  people's  gratitude  to  those 
whose  lives  had  been  made  an  offering  for  the  public 
welfare  and  glory.  By  such  words  did  he  give  pre- 
cedence to  the  long-drawn  and  solemnly-moving  pro- 
cession, the  measured  step,  the  trailing  spears,  the 
drooping  standards,  the  sumptuous  funeral-car  empty 
in  memory  of  the  slain,  the  torch-light,  the  banquet, 
and  proud  material  monument,  rather  than  to  lamenta- 
tions of  mourners,  orations  pronounced,  and  elegaic 
honors  to  the  dead. 

Reversely  to  this  Pagan  conception  does  the  relig- 
ion of  Jesus  teach  us,  that  all  mere  outward  and  ma- 
terial demonstrations  of  regard  for  the  meritorious 
dead,  are  inferior  to  that  better  tribute  which  seeks  to 
perpetuate  their  virtues  in  lives  conformed  to  their  ex- 
ample, and  in  the  enforcement  and  commendation  of 
the  principles  by  which  their  actions  were  inspired  and 
adorned.  "  The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting-  re- 

o  o 

membrance."  "  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed." 
"  Remember  them  who  have  rule  over  you,  who  have 
spoken  unto  you  the  word  of  God,  whose  faith  follow ; 
considering  the  end  of  their  conversation,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 
"  The  teachers  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness, 
as  the  stars  forever  and  ever."  Better  than  material 
monument  of  £>oric  strength  or  Corinthian  beauty, 
than  sarcophagus  or  mausoleum,  where  lie  the  ashes  of 
the  dead  inurned  with  funeral  pomp,  is  that  sublime 
chapter  of  inspiration  from  which  the  words  of  the 


text  are  taken.  More  than  a  Westminster  Abbey,  it 
is  a  Temple  of  Eternal  Fame,  wherejn  the  names  and 
deeds  of  heroes  of  the  taith  are  recorded,  and  a  niche 
left  for  the  spiritual  bust  of  every  true  successor  in  the 
line  of  their  valor.  To  this  Temple  of  Remembrance, 
built  by  the  breath  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  come  to- 
day. Its  portals  we  enter.  Here  would  we  place  our 
image,  imperfect  though  it  be,  of  him  who  was  worthy, 
on  earth,  to  stand  beside  "  the  elders "  who,  ages 
ago,  "  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,"  and 
who,  now  in  heaven,  stands  crowned  in  their  ranks, 
for  ages  to  come,  around  the  throne.  * 

I  am  directed  to  the  text  because  it  presents  an  ap- 
propriate category  wherein  to  class  the  name  of  one 
who  so  long  was  your  honored  pastor,  lent  of  God  not 
to  you  alone,  but  given  to  the  whole  Church,  one  who 
so  long  was  a  hero  of  the  faith,  a  true  soldier  of  Christ. 
^Nor  Gideon,  nor  Barak,  nor  Samson,  nor  Jephthah, 
nor  David,  nor  Samuel,  nor  the  prophets,  held  in 
higher  regard  the  word  of  God,  nor  trusted  with  more 

O  O  ' 

unswerving  fidelity  to  Him  who  had  made  it  their 
absolute  guide.  Here  lay  the  secret  of  his  life  and 
labors,  trials  and  reproaches,  courage,  victories  and 
unmurmuring  death.  Let  the  name  of  Thomas  Eben- 
ezer  Thomas  be  inscribed  upon  the  same  tablet  with 
the  names  of  the  judges,  the  prophets,  the  heroes,  of 
Israel.  To  him,  as  to  them,  it  was  given,  in  high 
moral  conflict,  to  subdue  kingdoms,  work  righteous- 
ness, obtain  promises,  stop  the  mouths  of  lions,  quench 
the  violence  of  fire,  escape  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out 
of  weakness  become  strong,  wax  valiant  in  fight,  turn 
to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens. 

Shortly  before  his  death  it  was  my  privilege,  in 
company  with  another,  to  whom  he  was  attached,  to 


—  6  — 

visit  him  just  when  his  strength  began  to  wane,  and 
the  tide  of  life  to  ebb  slowly  away.  We  found  the 
soldier,  wounded  on  the  battlement,  calmly  reposing 
on  his  shield — "  the  shield  of  faith."  Buckled  tight 
to  his  head,  and  gleaming  as  ever,  he  still  wore  his 
helmet — "  the  helmet  of  salvation."  Stretched  oil  his 
shield,  his  hand  supporting  his  weary  head,  his  front 
glittered  all  over  with  "  the  breastplate  of  righteous- 
ness." Unsheathed  by  his  side  lay  his  well-tried 
sword,  tested  in  many  a  conflict — "  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God."  Armed,  vap-a-pie, 
with  sandals  on  his  feet,  ready,  faint  as  he  was,  either 
to  walk  "  in  the  way  of  peace,"  or,  if  needs  be,  shout 
"  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  "Gideon,"  he  seemed  a 
very  soldier,  born  and  bred  alike  to  the  fortunes  of 
holy  war  and  the  experience  of  rest  that  comes  from 
victory.  The  pallor  of  his  face  and  fading  light  in  his 
eyes  foreboded  that  the  joy  of  his  Lord,  his  eternal 
crown,  was  near.  It  was  during  the  afternoon  of  Tues- 
day, February  2d,  the  winds  from  the  hills  moaned  over 
'the  city  of  Cincinnati  "  Dr.  Thomas  is  dying!  "  Pleuro- 
pneumonia  was  doing  its  fatal  work.  It  was  on  the 
following  morning  of  February  3d,  the  same  winds 
moaned  again,  "  Dr.  Thomas  is  dead!  "  He  had  tall- 
en  asleep  in  Jesus.  "  And  the  voice  said  cry  !  "  And 
I  said,  "  What  shall  I  cry  ?  "  And  it  said,  "  All  flesh 
is  grass,  and  all  the  goodliness  thereof  is  as  the  flower 
of  the  field.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth, 
because  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it ;  surely 
the  people  are  grass  !  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower 
fadeth,  but  the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever  ! " 
"  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto 
me,  Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth:  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 


—  7  — 

may  rest  from  their  labors;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them." 

Doctor  Thomas  Ebenezer  Thomas,  eldest  son  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Robinson,  was  of 
Welsh  and  English  descent.  The  blood  that  flowed  in 
the  veins  of  a  Christmas  Evans,  a  John  Elias,  and  a 
Howell  Harris,  gentle,  fiery,  chariot-like,  and  mount- 
ing1, coursed  in  his  own.  The  Puritan  spirit  that  could 
welcome  either  martyrdom  or  exile,  for  righteousness' 
sake,  and  write  a  Smithfield,  an  Amsterdam,  a  Plym- 
outh Rock,  in  its  annals^  was  his.  He  .was  born  in 
Chelmsford,  England,  December  23,  1812.  While  yet 
a  child,  but  six  years  old,  the  decree  of  Him  who  led 
Israel  through  the  sea  wafted  him  across  the  Atlantic 
to  find,  in  the  ~New  World,  a  theater  of  action  for  his 
boyhood,  his  manhood,  his  maturer  age.  With  his 
parents  he  reached  the  shores  of  the  United  States, 
and  landed  at  Baltimore  in  the  year  1818.  Together 
they  journeyed  to  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  thence  down 
the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati.  Prepared  for  college  by  his 
father,  who  himself  was  a  graduate  of  Hoxton  Col- 
lege, London,  and  a  minister  of  the  Independent 
Church,  and  whose  "boarding-school*'  in  the  Miami 
country  was  the  pride  of  its  patrons,  he  was  matricu- 
lated in  Miami  University  in  the  fall  of  1829,  then 
under  the  supervision  of  President  Bishop  and  Pro- 
fessors McGuffey,  Scott,  and  Armstrong,  and  was 
graduated  four  years  later,  in  the  spring  of  1834. 
Among  his  classmates  and  intimate  friends  were  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  G.  Monfort,  Gov.  Charles  Anderson,  Hon.  W. 
S.  Groesbeck,  and  others  of  eminent  distinction. 

Impressive  incidents  of  his  college  life  are  still  vivid 
in  the  memories  of  surviving  companions.  I  pass  by 
his  reputation  in  debate  and  proficiency  in  scholar- 


g 

ship,  to  mention  but  two.  T  have  it  from  the  testi- 
mony of  an  eminent  servant  of  Christ,  Dr.  John  M. 
Stevenson,  of  New  York,  that  during  his  college 
course,  Dr.  Thomas  fell  into  deep  spiritual  distiv^. 
"  For  weeks  he  was  the  special  subject  of  prayer  on 
the  part  of  his  pious  fellow-students.  He  saw  the 
truth  of  God's  justice,  and  the  criminality  of  sin,  but 
could  not  see  the  infinite  mercy  of  Christ  as  applied 
to  his  own  soul.  His  chosen  friends  among  the  stu- 
dents prayed  with  him  and  for  him,  daily  and  nightly, 
rising  at  midnight  to  walk  away  into  the  grove  with 
him  to  plead  for  the  light  of  God's  countenance."  At 
length  it  came  !  "  God  brought  him  forth  in  the  full 
and  joyful  experience  of  his  love  in  Christ  Jesus. 
From  that  time  he  became  a  bright,  trustful,  joyous, 
exultant  Christian."  He  made  a  profession  of  his 
faith  in  Christ  at  Venice,  Ohio,  April  2,  1831,  in  the 
twentieth  year  of  his  age. 

Remarkable  was  his  moral  heroism,  as  a  youth,  and 
his  love  of  principle.  Specially,  as  some  yet  remem- 
,  ber,  did  it  shine  in  face  of  danger,  during  the  dreadful 
cholera  scourge  of  1833,  when,  resisting  with  a  few 
others,  the  recalcitrant  vote  of  his  fellow-students, 
determined  to  abandon  the  University  and  seek  refuge 
in  flight,  he  remained  firm  to  the  last  amid  the  despair- 
ing and  the  dying,  thus  supporting  the  hands  of  his 
instructors  and  receivingtheir  warmest  encomiums. 

He  was  licensed  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  October,  1836,  tb 
preach  the  gospel.  He  was  ordained  to  his  first  pas- 
torate at  Harrison,  July,  1837,  the  period  of  the  divis- 
ion of  the  Presbyterian  Church  into  Old  and  New 
School.  He  became  the  pastor  of  the  church  at  Ham- 
ilton, Ohio,  in  the  fall  of  1838.  He  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  Hanover  College  in  1849,  receiving  his  Doc- 


—  9  — 

torate  from  Wabash  College  in  1850,  and  resigned  in 
1854  to  accept  the  Chair  of  Biblical  Literature  and 
Exegesis  in  the  New  Albany  Theological  Seminary, 
Indiana;  increasing  his  burdens  by  discharging,  also, 
the  duties  of  the  Professorship  of  Church  History, 
and  lecturing  occasionally  on  Hermeneutics.  A  mem- 
orable crisis,  well  known  to  the  Church,  was  at  hand. 
The  National  Fugitive  Slave  Law  had  already  been 
passed,  and  the  struggle  of  the  South  for  domination 
in  the  Church  was  intense  as  the  battle  for  control 
in  the  government  was  violent.  In  1852  the  two  great 
political  parties  of  the  country  had  pronounced  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  a  "  finality." 

General  Assemblies  and  Halls  of  Congress  echoed 
to  each  other  in  fiery  debate.  In  1857  the  nine  West- 
ern and  Northwestern  Synods,  associated  in  the  con- 
duct of  New  Albany  Seminary,  removed  it  to  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  and  in  1858  offered  its  control,  as  a 
measure  of  peace  and  prosperity,  to  the  General  As- 
sembly, expecting  that  the  antislavery  sentiment  of 
the  Northwest  would  be  regarded  in  any  new  organi- 
zation of  the  institution  the  Assembly  might  make. 
To  evince  the  perfect  sincerity  of  this  offer,  the  argu- 
ment then  being  that  all  Theological  Seminaries  should 
be  under  Assembly  control,  directly  and  immediately, 
Dr.  Thomas  and  his  distinguished  colleague,  Rev.  E.  D. 
MacMaster,  D.  D.,  resigned  their  professorships.  As 
the  reward  of  their  magnanimity,  both  were  laid  aside 
by  the  dominant  Southern  sentiment  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  1859,  met  at  Indianapolis.  The  civil  war 
was  rapidly  approaching.  Meanwhile  Dr.  Thomas 
remained  in  New  Albany,  as  stated  supply  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  that  place.  In  1858  he  was 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Presbyterian 


— 10  •- 

Church,  Dayton,  Ohio,  there  to  remain,  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  until  the  issues  of  the  contest  of  three 
generations  had  been  solved  in  a  nation's  blood,  and 
the  sundered  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  re- 
united. In  1871  he  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  New 
Testament  Greek  and  Exegesis,  in  Lane  Theological 
Seminary,  supplying  the  pulpit,  also,  in  the  Broadway 
Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  and  the  pulpit  at 
Walnut  Hills,  near  the  Seminary.  In  the  fourth  year 
of  his  labors  in  Lane  Seminary,  a  voice  called  to  him 
from  above,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant  !  " 
"  Come  up  hither  !  v  The  silver  cord  was  loosed,  the 
golden  bowl  was  broken,  the  pitcher  at  the  fountain, 
the  wheel  at  the  cistern  !  The  dust  returned  to  the 
ea:th  as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  to  God  who  gave  it. 

"Welcome,  the  hour  of  full  discharge, 
That  set  his  longing  soul  at  large, 
Unbound  his  chain,  broke  up  his  cell, 
And  gave  him  with  his  God  to  dwell." 

The  measure  of  Dr.  Thomas'  professional  life  may, 
therefore,  be  thus  divided:  1.  Two  years  of  academic 
teaching  at  Rising  Sun,  Indiana,  and  Franklin,  Ohio, 
subsequent  to  his  graduation  and  previous  to  his  licen- 
sure,  i.  e.,  from  1834  to  1836.  2.  Five  years  of  Presi- 
dency in  Hanover  College,  i.  e.,  from  1849  to  1854.  3. 
Twenty-seven  years  of  active  and  successful  pastoral 
and  pulpit  work:  in  Harrison  from  1836  to  1839  ;  in 
JIamilton  from  1839  to  1849 ;  in  New  Albany  from 
1857  to  1858;  in  Dayton  from  1858  to  1871;  be- 
sides his  pulpit  labors  in  Cincinnati  and  at  Walnut 
Hills.  4.  Seven  years  of  devoted  toil  in  the  Profes- 
sor's Chair,  in  New  Albany,  from  1857  to  1859,  in  Lane 
Seminary  from  1871  to  1875.  In  n\\  forty  years  of  ac- 


—11— 

tive  Christian  life,  as  a  public  instructor,  in  the  school, 
the  college,  the  seminary,  the  pastorate  ;  training1  the 
faculties  and  molding  the  manners  of  the  young,  in- 
stilling the  principles  of  virtue  and  religion,  proclaim- 
ing the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  resisting  man- 
fully the  encroaching  and  overspreading  corruptions  in 
Church  and  State  in  their  common  subserviency  to  a 
system  of  human  oppression  rich  with  the  spoil  of  un- 
numbered souls,  thrilling  the  fibers  of  the  human 
frame  with  magnetic  and  matchless  eloquence,  in 
Presbytery,  Synod,  and  Assembly,  from  platform  and 
sacred  desk  alike,  and  pressing  on  to  the  goal,  not 
counting  his  life  dear,  determined  that  Christ  should  be 
magnified  in  his  body,  whether  by  life  or  by  death  ! 

As  a  man,  physically,  Dr.  Thomas  was  of  medium 
stature,  strong  in  constitution,  solidly  built,  and  of 
fair  complexion.  His  voice  was  feeble  yet  possessed 
of  unusual  charm.  On  his  shoulders  he  bore  a  "  dome 
of  thought  "  seldom  seen  on  the  shoulders  of  men. 
On  the  wall  of  that  '"palace"  fancy  hung  her  pictures 
wrought  in  colors  of  striking  beauty,  and  high  intel- 
lectual lights  threwT  their  splendor  over  the  scene 
within.  He  wTas  clear  in  understanding,  comprehensive 
in  grasp,  quick  and  penetrating  in  perception.  Affable 
in  manners,  accessible  and  courteous,  manly  and  dig- 
nified, tender  as  a  child,  sympathetic  and  tearful,  free, 
frank,  generous,  firm  when  firmness  was  needed,  play- 
ful as  a  sportive  jet  from  the  fountain,  mirthful  with  his 
keen  twinkling  eye,  sparkling  with  anecdote,  wit  and 
humor,  and  chaste  in  every  expression,  he  was  one  of  the 
most  socially  gifted,  delightful,  and  companionable  of 
men.  Enthusiastic  in  hospitality,  who  that  knocked  at 
his  door  and  felt  the  warm  grasp  of  his  hand  could  ever 
forget  that  hearty  welcome  :  "  Come  in,  thou  blessed 


—  12  — 

of  the  Lord  ;  wherefore  standest  thou  without  ? " 
Resolute  in  will  and  of  tenacious  purpose,  forming-  his 
judgment  without  prejudice,  yet  amenable  to  persua- 
sion and  honest  argument,  uncompromising  in  princi- 
ple, respectful  and  magnanimous  to  the  last  degree,  a 
man  without  the  shadow  of  personal  resentment  or  de- 
sire of  personal  revenge,  he  was  just  such  a  friend  as 
the  high-souled  and  noble  among  men  delighted  to 
cultivate  and  honor.  Ardent  in  temperament  and  im- 
pulsive, because  strung  with  the  finest  sensibilities  of 
soul  added  to  quickness  of  natural  perception,  intense 
in  his  moral  convictions,  delicate  as  a  maid,  yet  brave 
RK  a  lion  and  regardless  of  self,  his  soul  sprang,  as  by 
a  single  leap,  to  the  side  of  the  right,  and  triumphed 
or  fell  with  the  cause  it  espoused.  His  courage  re- 
mained undaunted  by  misfortune.  His  confidence  was 
unbroken  by  adversity.  His  righteousness  sustained 
him.  His  presence  was  a  tower  of  strength  to  any 
cause.  If,  at  times,  the  ardor  of  virtue  betrayed  him 
into  verbal  indiscretions,  which,  in  calmer  moods,  his 
better  judgment  would  have  shunned,  none  read- 
ier than  he  to  ask  forgiveness.  He  seemed  born  to 
hate  meanness,  injustice,  oppression,  and  insolent  of- 
fending. To  malice  his  heart  was  a  stranger.  Secret 
calumny  found  no  arrows  in  his  tongue  with  which  to 
shoot,  privily,  at  his  neighbor.  Crawling  circumven- 
tion, sanctimonious  and  soft-footed  intrigue,  vainly 
concealing  the  envy  that  bore  murder  in  its  purpose, 
shrewd  cunning,  silent  and  sly,  duplicity,  stratagem, 
plot,  craft,  trick,  treachery,  slander,  and  the  hollow 
smile  of  simulated  friendship,  the  whole  brood  of  moral 
abominations,  his  manly  soul  abhorred.  On  all  he 
wrote  "Anathema." 


—  13]— 

"  From  the  loud  roar  of  foaming  calumny, 
To  the  small  whisper  of  the  as  paltry  few, 
And  subtler  venom  of  the  reptile  crew, 
The  Janus  glance  of  whose  significant  eye, 
Learning  to  lie  with  silence,  would  seem  true, 
And,  without  utterance,  save  the  shrug  or  sigh, 
Deal  round  to  happy  fools  its  speechless  obloquy." 

Better  moral   metal   never  was  found  in  man.     He 
was  the  soul  of  honor,  integrity  and  truth. 

But  these  virtues  of  his  character,  bright  as  they  were, 
stood  inferior  to  other  adornments,  whose  luster  out- 
shone the  gems  that  Aaron  wore.  Throughout  the  w^hole 
wealth  of  his  genius,  lively  or  grave,  morally  stern  or 
socially  flexible,  spirituality  and  sanctity  marked  him 
as  their  own.  The  cross  of  Christ  had  subdued  him.  The 
Spirit  ot  Christ  had  anointed  him.  He  had  studied  his 
Master,  as  Harris  in  his  "  Great  Teacher  "  had  studied 
Him.  The  contrast  between  himself  and  Christ  was 
vivid  in  his  consciousness,  and  this  made  him  humble. 
At  times  an  inward  glance  at  Christ  would  check  the 
playfulness  of  his  mood  and  tone  him  into  saintly 
thought  fulness.  To  be  like  Christ — this  was  his  aim. 
To  battle  with  the  corruptions  of  his  sinful  nature  and 
emerge  victorious  from  the  contest — this  was  his  in- 
ward agony  and  prayer.  To  despair  of  self  and  find 
strength  and  peace  in  looking  alone  to  Christ — this 
was  his  daily  experience^  It  explained  all  his  spirit- 
ual states.  He  made  one  thing  clear  as  sunshine — the 
fact  that  he  had  not  one  spiritual  grace  which  did  not 
come  to  him  through  faith  in  Christ.  He  saw  in 
Christ  all  that  he  needed,  and  by  looking,  obtained  it. 
Christ's  humility  made  him  humble  ;  Christ's  poverty, 
patience,  sanctity,  tenderness,  love  and  zeal,  made  him 
poor,  patient,  saintly,  tender,  loving  and  zealous. 


—  14  — 

Christ's  intercession  made  him  prayerful.  What  he 
had  of  grace  he  received  by  "  looking  unto  Jesus." 
The  Holy  Spirit  wrought  through  Christ,  upon  his 
soul,  and  not  outside  of,  nor  apart  from  Christ.  All 
the  spiritual  light  he  ever  enjoyed  came,  as  he  said, 
"  through  Christ.'7  Christ  was  the  miracle,  the  mag- 
net, the  mystery  of  his  life. 

The  piety  of  Dr.  Thomas  was  not  morbid.  It  was 
fresh  as  the  dew  of  Hermon,  bright  as  the  glow  of  the 
morning.  It  was  not  self-generated.  It  came  from 
above.  Fervor  and  exhilarating  life  were  in  it,  a 
power  as  when  some  new  emotion  kindles  the  soul  for 
the  first  time.  The  supernatural  grafted  itself  upon 
the  natural,  and  yet  the  individuality  of  the  man  was 
not  lost  in  the  sanctification  of  the  saint.  A  quality 
of  tenderness,  too,  lull  of  persuasion  and  sweetness, 
made  it  all  the  more  precious.  Trials  had  ministered, 
through  grace,  to  cast  over  it,  at  times,  the  tinge  of 
sadness.  He  had  drank  something  of  the  cup  his 
Master  drank;  entered,  in  some  measure,  into  the  deep 
mysteries  of  his  Master's  sufferings  aild  reproach. 
Gethsemanes,  Calvarys,  and  dark  eclipses  of  the  spirit, 
though  brief,  visited  him  during  the  trying  struggle  of 
practical  obedience,  in  public  life,  to  his  Father's  will. 
No  theme  touched  his  pious  affections  more  deeply 
than  the  mention  of  his  Master's  name.  The  fountain 
and  the  flame  were  close  together  in  his  heart,  neither 
to  extinguish  nor  destroy  the  other,  but  the  one  to  burn, 
the  other  to  bedew,  and  both  to  bless.  Well  do  I  re- 
member, as  one  day  we  sat  beneath  the  trees  near  his 
study,  the  theme  of  our  conversation  was  the  "  Re- 
deemer's Tears."  I  asked  him  if  ever  he  had  noticed 
Luther's  beautiful  version  of  the  text  "  Jesus  wept " 
— "the  eyes  of  Jesus  go  over."  He  said  nothing,  but 


—  15  — 

looking  steadfastly  in  my  face — just  as  a  river  swells 
to  its  banks,  or  the  water  to  the  goblet's  brim,  and 
overflows,  so  did  the  moisture  gather  in  his  eyes,  and 
breaking  over  their  lids,  already  too  full  to  hold  more, 
ran  down  in  pious  streams  upon  his  cheeks  ! 

His  love  for  the  word  of  Christ,  not  less  than  for  his 
Master,  was  remarkable.  He  panted  for  it  as  the  hart 
for  the  water-brooks  ;  cried  for  it  as  the  hungering 
sheep  for  the  green  meadows.  Morning  by  morning 
his  Divine  Shepherd  wakened  his  ear  to  hear  as  the 
learned.  While  yet  his  family  were  locked  in  slumber, 
he  would  rise,  and,  opening  the  shutters  to  the  dawn, 
gaze  with  delight  upon  the  dew-gemmed  pastures  of 
the  Hebrew  Psalter  he  loved  so  well.  Margin  on  mar- 
gin, fly-leaves  and  covers,  from  beginning  to  end,  two 
copies  of  the  Psalter  in  the  original  tongue,  are  mark- 
ed with  expressions  of  his  affectionate  pleasure  and 
care.  At  midnight,  too,  he  would  rise  to  record  with 
his  pen  the  verses  his  whispering  heart  had  indited. 
Blessed  man  !  Planted  by  the  river  of  water,  fruit- 
bearing  not  only  in  season,  but  out  of  season,  his  leaf 
never  withering  !  And  well  did  he  know  how  to 
minister  consolation  to  the  afflicted.  The  Lord  God 
had  given  him  "  the  tongue  of  the  learned  that  he 
should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him 
that  is  weary."  Sorrow  found  in  him  a  comforter  at  her 
couch,  not  less  than  did  joy  a  guest  at  her  banquet.  The 
humility  that  shone  transparent  through  the  vesture  of 
his  strength  was  no  mere  natural  modesty.  It  was  the 
feature  of  a  spirit  molded  by  Christ,  penitent  under  a 
sense  of  its  own  un worthiness,  conscious  of  its  eternal 
indebtedness  to  the  mercy  and  love  of  Jesus,  chastened 
by  trials  with  which  his  Master  had  honored  and  tested 
him,  and  confirmed  by  a  felt  need  of  it,  "  lest  he  should 


—  16  — 

be  exalted  above  measure  by  the  abundance  of  the  rev- 
elations given  to  him." 

Shall  I  speak  of  his  faith  ?  From  the  hour  it 
pleased  God  to  reveal  his  Son  in  him,  and  give  him 
victory  over  law  and  conscience,  doubt,  fear,  and  self- 
condemnation,  and  bring  him  forth  to  the  enlargement 
of  spiritual  liberty,  he  was  a  buoyant,  joyful,  trustful 
disciple.  Simple,  spirit-born,  and  unfaltering  was  this 
bright  particular  star  in  the  constellation  of  his  graces. 
It  was  in  him  a  conviction  deeper  than  granite  founda- 
tions, loftier  than  the  firmament,  outlasting  the  limits 
of  an  earthly  career.  It  was  the  faith  of  Gideon  and 
Barak,  and  Samson  and  Jephthah.  Not  Gibraltar, 
impervious  to  attack,  nor  the  rocky  sides  of  Ehren- 
breitstein,  were  to  be  compared  to  God  in  Christ,  his 
Strength,  his  Rock,  his  Fortress,  his  High  Tower,  his 
Deliverer.  It  was,  to  him,  an  inwrought  certain  per- 
suasion and  assurance,  an  unshakable  conviction  and 
clinching  proof  of  the  reality  of  things  hoped  for, 
though  yet  unseen.  Once,  in  company  with  a  friend, 
I  asked  him  if,  in  his  definition  of  faith,  he  agreed  with 
Calvin,  that  it  is  a  "  certain  knowledge  "  in  the  soul  that 
God  in  Christ  is  propitious  to  me,  and  that  Christ  is 
mine.  He  replied,  "  Faith  is  a  conscious  confidence— 
a  cable — -pistis.  Since  my  first  confidence  in  Christ, 
having  passed  through  great  conflict,  I  have  never  en- 
tertained a  doubt  of  my  interest  in  Him,  nor  of  His  in 
me  !  "  How  modestly  he  spake  it  !  "  It  is  sinful," 
said  he,  "  to  doubt.  My  spiritual  state  has  often 
troubled  me,  but  I  have  never  doubted  Christ's  inter- 
est in  me  since  I  believed."  To  the  question  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Skinner,  "  Dr.  Thomas,  to  what  do  you  attribute 
this  assurance  of  which  you  speak  ?  Is  it  to  any  spe- 
cial revelation  you  have  of  Christ's  love  to  you,  or  to 


—  17  — 

any  miraculous  work  of  the' Spirit,  different  from  what 
others  enjoy,  or  to  any  moods  or  frames  of  mind,  or 
sense  of  your  own  perfection,  or  anything  whatever 
you  find  in  yourself  ?"  His  answer  was,  "  To  nothing 
of  the  kind.  I  attribute  my  assurance  to  Christ's 
promise  and  to  my  confidence  in  Christ  alone.  They 
are  the  same  thing.  Christ  is  a  sure  foundation.  I 
can't  trust  my  frames. or  my  heart,  but  I  can  trust 
Christ.  Of  course,  faith  is  the  Spirit's  work,  yet  it  is 
I  who  believe."  Such  was  his  reply.  Christ,  in  His 
objective  fullness,  was  his  all. 

A  Christian  moralist,  he  accepted  the  command- 
ment of  God  as  the  ultimate  rule  for  himself  and  for 
others.  He  affirmed  its  empire  over  every  passion, 
every  human  interest  and  will.  Duty  to  God  and  duty 
to  man  were,  in  his  view,  the  condition  of  all  social, 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  progress,  and  the  discharge  of 
it  the  essence  of  all  virtue.  He  denied  to  any  man 
the  right  to  set  aside  the  precept  of  God,  under  any 
pretense  whatever,  no  matter  how  plausible.  Theory 
with  him  was  practice.  The  wretched  utilitarian 
maxim  of  Paley,  so  common  in  our  day — "  that  what 
is  expedient  is  right '  —so  grounding  our  obligation  to 
speak  and  act,  upon  our  own  opinions  and  personal  in- 
clinations, interests  and  moods,  he  repudiated  as  trea- 
son to  God,  as  the  overthrow  of  all  morality,  the 
source  of  immeasurable  moral  corruption.  As  to  the 
mode  of  discharging  what  God  requires,  he  admitted 
room  for  diversity  of  view,  but  done  must  the  duty  be, 
at  all  hazards  and  regardless  of  all  consequences. 
Righteousness  must  be  asserted  and  maintained  in 
every  relation  of  life,  social,  civil,  religious,  at  what- 
ever cost.  The  oily  appeal  to  "  the  prudential 
motive  "  that  slips  through  all  God's  commandments, 


—  18— 

balances  advantage  against  disadvantage,  makes  public 
or  private  opinion  the  censor  of  the  divine  word,  and 
does  obeisance  to  conscience  only  when  civil  statute 
and  sheriff  are  near  to  enforce  obligation,  or  when  in- 
dividual and  clique  interests  are  promoted,  the  moral- 
ity that  winks  at  sin  and  the  concealment  of  sin  for 
the  sake  of  peace  and  prosperity  and  hope  of  God's 
glory,  and  degrades  conscience  itself  to  a  plaything 
to  be  bartered  and  sold  in  the  market,  he  scorned.  Its 
practice  awoke  the  moral  antagonism  of  his  whole 
soul.  To  his  mind,  Christian  virtue  was  impossible 
without  Christian  manliness  and  courage,  because  we 
ourselves  are  sinful,  and  live  in  a  world  of  sin.  It 
gave  grandeur  and  power  to  all  his  private  and  public 
acts.  Whether  in  Church  or  State,  in  private  or  pub- 
lic, the  choice  between  a  corrupt  peace  or  a  righteous 
war  was  neither  doubtful  nor  difficult.  He  had  en- 
listed under  Christ  whom,  alone,  he  called  "  Master." 
Injustice,  oppression,  perversion  of  God's  truth,  or 
God's  way,  in  any  form,  could  not  be  where  he  dwelt, 
and  not  hear  his  indignant  protest,  or  receive  his  well- 
delivered  blow.  In  his  catechism  of  right  and  wrong, 
the  high  behests  of  Heaven  were  not  human  calcula- 
tions of  temporal  profit  and  loss,  inconvenience  and 
ease,  but  "  the  dictates  of  a  lip  divine,"  whose  every 
word  is  law.  It  was  not  merely  the  shame,  but  as 
well  the  damage  and  personal  demoralization,  conse- 
quent upon  the  violation  of  Christian  morality,  that 
made  it  so  odious  in  his  sight.  For,  in  the  nobility  of 
his  spirit,  he  judged  that  where  the  dignity  of  virtue 
ceases  to  attract  the  praises  of  men,  and  compromises 
and  expediencies  prevail  to  usurp  divine  rules — when 
conscience  is  strangled  by  the  prescript  of  a  truckling 
neutrality,  disgraceful  as  corrupting,  then  that  which 


—  19  — 

ennobles  the  Christian  man  and  gives  him  royalty  and 
state  among  men,  and  praise  with  God,  is  forever  lost. 
The  victory  of  the  Christian  soldier  is  betrayed.  The 
vision  of  virtue  fades  from  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness, Christian  integrity  has  perished,  and  man,  de- 
spoiled of  the  enchantment  that  would  guide  his  steps 
— through  suffering  indeed — to  glory,  sinks  to  the  level 
of  a  base  trimmer,  venal  to  the  highest  bidder  who  pol- 
lutes his  hands  with  his  purchase.  The  negative  mo- 
rality of  neutrality  and  expediency  becomes,  whether 
in  personal  or  public  relations,  an  Italian  stab,  an  in- 
direct assassination. 

Not  such  were  the  models  of  Dr.  Thomas.  Careless 
what  men  objected,  if  only  God  approved,  and  willing 
to  face  the  intrenched  carnal  expediency  of  the  hour,  the 
ideals  he  placed  before  him  as  aids  to  inspire  his  pur- 
pose were  Socrates  before  the  judges,  Elijah  before 
Ahab,  John  the  Baptist  before  Herod,  Stephen  before 
the  Sanhedrim,  Paul  before  Felix  and  Agrippa,  Luther 
before  Pope  and  Emperor.  Such,  also,  were  Knox  be- 
fore Mary,  Melville  before  James,  and,  more  than  all, 
his  own  Master  before  Caiaphas  and  Pilate  !  If  there 
is  any  one  trait  of  character  in  which  he,  to  whose 
memory  we  bring  this  tribute  to-day,  looms  in  honor 
before  the  Church  and  the  nation,  it  is  the  grandeur  of 
his  moral  integrity.  To  every  servant  of  fear,  advis- 
ing retreat  from  the  presence  of  danger,  his  answer 
was,  "  Go  tell  thy  Lord,  BehoU  Elijah  is  here  !  "  or 
"  Go  tell  that  fox,  Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  do 
cures  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  1  shall 
be  perfected." 

In  all  that  enters  into  the  institution  of  a  Christian 
scholar,  Dr.  Thomas  was  eminent  and  accomplished. 
This  testimony  is  confirmed  by  all  his  pupils  and 


—  20'— 

friends,  not  a  few  of  whom  occupy  eminent  positions 
in  Church  and  State  to-day.  During  his  curriculum, 
he  excelled  as  a  student  and  gave  promise  of  coming 
distinction.  His  love  of  study  remained  to  the  last. 
To  history,  biography,  poetry,  botany,  geology,  eth- 
nology and  entomology,  he  gave  attention  as  his  more 
pressing  duties  permitted.  He  was  a  library  in  him- 
self. Shelves  were  in  his  capacious  memory,  laden 
with  volumes  of  solid  learning,  the  lore  of  ancient  and 
modern  times;  cabinets,  too,  of  scientific  treasure. 
.English  and  American,  as  well  as  Greek  and  Roman 
classics,  were  there,  antiquarian  research,  the  best 
criticism  of  the  age  in  his  own  department,  ethics  and 
theology — all  to  enjoy  and  use  for  the  benefit  of  his 
fellow-man.  His  choice,  however,  was  the  study  of 
language  and  the  interpretation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 
He  had  seen,  in  early  life,  over  the  thorns  of  his  crucified 
Master,  an  inscription  written  in  characters  of  "Hebrew, 
Greek  and  Latin."  These  consecrated  tongues  he  made 
-his  own.  JSTot  less  a  Protestant  than  Christian,  he  be- 
lieved, as  Luther  did,  that  "it  is  a  part  of  religion  to 
learn  and  teach  Hebrew  and  Greek."  The  Reforma- 
tion, he  "contended,  rested  on  that  fact,  and  he  was  the 
sworn  foe  of  Popery,  .No  number  of  modern  lan- 
guages, however  useful  or  admired,  could  justify,  in 
his  view,  the  neglect  of  Hebrew  and  Greek.  The 
"  Magna  Charta  of  Christianity  and  the  Church,"  he 
said,  "  is  in  them."  The  tongues  of  Paris  and  Berlin 
are  not  so  much  as  to  be  compared  with  those  of  Ath- 
ens, Jerusalem  and  Rome.  Enthusiastic  in  the  clas- 
sics, he  viewed  them  as  the  best  basis  of  the  best  cul- 
ture, better  than  discipline  in  any  or  all  the  natural 
sciences  together.  The  Latin  he  could  speak  and 
write  with  ease.  He  preferred  the  Greek.  By  the 


—  21  — 

study  of  their  faultless  models,  his  naturally  gifted  and 
susceptible  mind  became  trained  to  that  discrimination 
of  thought,  crystal  clearness  and  perfection  of  style, 
exquisite  taste,  beauty  of  illustration,  elegance,  direct- 
ness and  force  of  expression,  which  characterized  his 
own.  How  deeply  he  drank  of  the  "  Pierian  Spring!" 
How  often  the  allusion  adorned  his  diction  !  How  fre- 
quently, even  in  religious  discussions,  his  speech  was 
graced  with  sentiments  drawn  directly  from  the  clas- 
sic fountains  !  another  insatnce  that  sacred  eloquence 
and  prayer  alike  have  flowed  from  lips 

"  Wet  with  Castalian  dews  !  " 

He  was  even  more  devoted  to  Hebrew  than*  Greek. 
He  understood  perfectly  the  genius  and  laws  of  the 
language.  He  loved  it,  moreover,  chiefly  because  of  its 
contents.  He  could  repeat  Psalms  and  sections  of  the 
Prophets  without  difficulty.  It  was  not  for  mere  liter- 
ary amusment,  however,  he  loved  the  study  of  the  lan- 
guages. A  nobler  motive  spurred  him  to  their  diligent 
pursuit.  It  was  to  be  able  to  reach  with  certainty,  for 
himself,  the  heart  of  divine  truth;  to  "open  and  pass 
through  "  the  nearest  doors  to  the  mind  of  the  "Spirit;" 
to  be  able  to  serve  God  with  his  best  powers,  and  to 
sow  seed  for  eternal  life.  His  last  effort  was  a  re- 
translation  of  the  celebrated  epistle  to  Diognetus,  and 
an  argument  built  thereupon  to  prove  in  opposition  to 
modern  infidel  schools  of  criticism,'  how  deeply  the 
very  words  of  the  gospels  had  sunk  into  the  hearts  of 
the  Christian  Church  in  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century. 

As  a  theologian,  Dr.  Thomas  was  Calvinistic  to  the 
core.  He  was  familiar  with  some  of  the  Church 
fathers  and  with  the  great  Calvinistic  divines  of  the 


—  22— 

Reformation*  He  had  studied  Calvin  and  Beza,  Van 
Mark  and  DeMoor,  Witsius  and  Martyr,  Tnrrd tin 
and  Stapler.  His  favorites  among  the  English  thco- 
gians  were  Flavel  and  Baxter,  Howe,  Owen  and  Bates, 
Man  ton  and  Charnock.  Liberal  in  spirit,  because  lov- 
ing the  truth  in  its  fullness,  overleaping  the  boundaries 
of  his  own  denomination  in  his  Christian  regards,  and 
unfettered  by  extremes  of  whatever  school,  he  had  no 
sympathy  with  those  who,  ever  professing  to  be  ortho- 
dox, are  yet  ever  complaining  oi  the  difficulties  of 
their  creed,  and  sighing  for  theological  nurses  to  spoon 
out  "milk"  to  babes  rather  than  for  well  instructed 
scribes  to  divide  "  strong  meat "  to  men.  Creed- 
tinkerers  he  regarded  as  superficial  and  incompetent. 
He  loved  the  Gideons  and  Baraks  in  theology,  an 
Athanasius,  an  Augustine,  a  Luther,  a  Calvin,  who 
had  "  earnestly  contended  for  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints."  If  the  Church  creed  had,  in  any  de- 
gree, become  what  some  would  call  a  "  dead  ortho- 
doxy," it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  creed,  but  of  the 
"men  who  professed  it  for  the  glory  of  its  historic 
name,  and  yet  preferred  to  it  some  new,  unhistoric,  and 
piebald  actualism,  unlike  any  compound  ever  put  up 
before!  Upon  this  point  his  mind  was  precisely  ex- 
pressed by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Chalmers  in  a  quotation 
which,  years  ago,  he  told  me  John  Angel  1  James  had 
inserted  in  his  "  Earnest  Ministry."  I  have  not  only 
no  reason  to  believe  that  Dr.  Thomas  ever  changed  his 
opinion  in  this  respect,  but  positive  reasons  to  the  con- 
trary. The  quotation  is  from  a  publication  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,  about  the  time  of  the  disruption  of  the 
Scotch  Establishment  and  organization  of  the  Free 
Church:  "  We  do  not  need  to  take  down  the  frame- 
work of  our  existing  orthodoxy.  All  we  require  is  that 


—  23— 

it  shall  become  an  animated  frame-work,  by  the  breath 
of  a  new  life  infused  into  it.     What  we  want  is  that  the 
very  system  of  doctrine,  we  now  have,  shall  come  to 
us,  not  in  word  only  but  in  power.     Prayer  can  bring 
this  about."      Dr.  Thomas  learned  his  theological  sys- 
tem, however,  not  from  text-books  or  scholastic  man- 
uals, although  he  was  an  able  theologian,  and  the  com- 
panion of  the  greatest  theologian  in  the   West,  but 
from  the  Bible  alone.  Here  was  his  forte.  Interrogated 
once  in  the  following  manner:  "Dr.  Thomas,  where 
did   you    get    your   theology  ? "     he   responded,    "  T 
found  it  in  the  Bible."     "  I  meant,"  said  the  interroga- 
tor, "  who  was  your  theological  teacher  ?  "   "  My  chief 
theological  preceptor,"  said  he,  "was  Professor  Paul, 
who  was  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Professor  Gamaliel, 
and  my  judgment  is  that  he  was  a  better  teacher  than 
his  master."     "  Ah,  yes  !  "    replied  the   interrogator, 
"  but   I   was   inquiring   in   what  seminary  you  were 
trained  ?  "     "  I  never  saw  a  theological  seminary,"  an- 
swered Dr.  Thomas,  "  until  after  I  was  ordained."     It 
was  not  that  he  undervalued  seminary  instruction,  but 
only  that  Providence  had  prepared  him  for  the  ministry 
without  it.    But  he  had  done  what  few  do  in  the  course 
of  that  preparation.      He  had  passed  into  the  heart  of 
the    sacred  originals.     He  had  made  himself  a  first- 
class  competent  judge  of  Bible  doctrine,  able  for  him- 
self to  tell  what  system  is  true,  what  system  is  false. 
The  form  of  doctrine  he  adopted  was  eminently  bibli- 
cal, and  the  spirit  of  that  form  was,  to  his  mind,  ex- 
pressed as  well  in  the  Calvinistic  symbols  as  it  could 
be.     He  was  no  innovator.     In  the  language  of  his 
colleague,  Professor  Evans,  of  Lane  Seminary,  "  The 
Bible  was  to  him,  in  a  very  earnest  sense,  his  supreme 
and  sole  authority  in  faith  and  practice."     Catholic  in 


—  24  — 

hie  creed  as  could  any  one  be  who  is  evangelical,  he 
was  yet  conservative  of  the  old  dogmatic  truths. 
Scripture  for  him  was  not  a  quarry  where  every  man 
might  chip  and  square  the  stones  to  suit  the  necessi- 
ties of  some  preconceived  theory  of  his  own,  but  a  de- 
posit of  sacred  truth,  already  fitted,  stone  to  stone,  for 
the  heavenly  temple,  yet  scattered  about  in  different 
places,  without  system,  and  for  the  wisest  purposes. 
The  utmost  any  system  could  do,  in  his  judgment,  is 
to  approximate  the  complete  conception  of  the  relation 
and  harmony  of  the  different  parts  in  the  temple  of 
inspired  truth,  not  fully  to  compass  them.  And  yet, 
as  between  the  two  great  opposing  systems  of  theology 
which  have  perpetuated  the  conflict  of  ages — the  one 
starting  with  the  principle  of  divine  agency  and  con- 
tinuing with  it  throughout,  operating  in  man  the  initial 
as  well  as  continuous  and  final  work  of  grace,  and  the 
other,  starting  with  the  principle  of  human  agency  and 
only  introducing  the  divine  as  supplementary  and 
synergistic,  so  making  the  work  of  grace  conditioned 
,  on  human  co-operation — he  declared,  unhesitatingly, 
for  the  former.  He  held  it  to  be  the  only  true,  only 
possible  and  non-contradictory  conception  of  grace, 
in  the  very  n  tture  of  the  case,  one  postulate  being 
admitted,  viz:  the  "death  in  sin"  of  the  whole 
human  race.  Of  this  "  death  in  sin  "  and  utter  spirit- 
ual ruin,  God  had  given  him  deep  personal  experience, 
and  on  the  other  hand  a  triumphant  confidence  in  the 
salvation  that  is  in  Christ.  He  repudiated  the  conclu- 
sion that  because  Scripture  propositions  are  not  formu- 
lated in  an  ecclesiastical  creed,  therefore  they  are  not 
dogmatic.  He  affirmed  them  to  be  more  dogmatic 
than  any  creed  could  make  them  and  of  higher  author- 
ity. Creeds  he  admitted.  They  were  to  him  mensurce 


—25— 

mensuratcB — rules  ruled — but  the  Bible  mensura  men- 
surans,  the  rule  ruling.  His  genius  gave  him  a  predi- 
lection for  the  grandeur  of.  divine  mysteries.  To 
destroy  these,  by  foolish  explanations,  is  to  rifle  the 
Bible  of  the  signs  the  most  elementary  of  its  origin. 
Mountain,  ocean,  and  mine,  were  the  playthings  of  his 
childhood.  He  was  ready  to  confess  that  God  had 
made  him,  and  not  he  God.  He  had  sense  enough  to 
admit  that  the  music  of  the  ocean  is  impossible  with- 
out its  depths,  the  flowers  of  earth  without  its  rock- 
ribbed  foundations,  the  glitter  of  the  firmament  with- 
out immensity  behind  it.  And  so  did  he  say  that  the 
simplest  truths  of  the  Bible  are  impossible  without  the 
underlying  deep  things  in  the  dazzling  abyss  of  His 
bosom  to  whom  DO  man  has  ever  been  counselor.  He 
remembered  "  God  answered  Job  out  of  a  whirlwind  " 
and  scattered  his  puny  objections  to  the  mysteries  of 
the  divine  administration,  as  chaff  is  scattered  before 
the  tempest,  by  a  simple  reference,  in  the  physical  do- 
main, to  the  mysteries  of  Arcturus  and  Mazzaroth, 
Pleiades  and  Orion,  Behemoth,  "  who  moveth  his  tail 
like  a  cedar,"  and  Leviathan,  "  who  maketh  the  deep 
to  boil  as  a  pot."  He  loved  Paul's  ejaculation,  "  O 
the  depths!"  and  said  amen  to  Calvin's  motto,  "Let 
God  be  true  and  every  man  a  liar.' 

If  the  consistent  voice  of  pupils,  colleagues,  direc- 
tors, and  those  who  best  knew  him,  is  of  value,  Dr. 
Thomas  stood  second  to  none  as  a  teacher  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  or  in  the  nation.  The  rich  furniture 
of  his  mind,  the  sharpness  of  his  intuition,  his  power 
of  induction  and  deduction,  his  logical  precision  and 
comprehensive  grasp,  his  exhaustive  treatment  and. 
ability  to  impart  instruction  to  others,  ranked  him  as 
an  educator  of  the  first  degree.  He  exercised  a  stimu- 


—26— 

latingTeffect  on  the  minds  of  his  students.  As  Presi- 
dent, he  commanded  respect  and  obedience,  as  Profes- 
sor, an  attachment  that  was  simply  romantic.  The 
chair  of  instruction  was  his  throne.  ~No  clod,  cold  and 
lifeless,  was  there,  burdened  by  a  sense  of  its  own 
importance,  while  he  sat  in  it.  The  scholar  was  smit- 
ten with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  master,  the  pupil  with 
the  charm  of  the  teacher.  He  connected  every  student 
with  himself  by  wires  of  his  own  battery,  and  a  mag- 
netic stream  of  sympathy  ran  tingling  through  them 
all.  Sometimes  a  shock  and  a  flash  might  indeed  wake 
the  disciple  to  a  sense  of  his  responsibilities,  but  not 
oftener  than  beads  of  dew  might  be  seen  in  the  Mas- 
ter's eyes.  Only  the  genius  of  an  adept  in  the  art 
could  guide  the  steps  of  the  learner,  without  weariness, 
through  intricate  processes  of  argument  and  exposition. 
"  As  a  teacher,"  says  Dr.  Scovel,  of  Pittsburg,  who 
sat  at  his  feet  for  seven  years,  "  he  was  unsurpassed.  In 
the  quiet  summer  afternoons,  during  his  presidency, 
with  the  audience  of  young  men  seated  solidly  in  front 
of  him,  with  Robinson's  Greek  Harmony  in  his  hand, 
and  a  section  of  the  Life  of  Christ  under  review,  I 
have  known  him  to  hold  the  students  and  the  audience 
an  hour  and  a  half,  and  leave  them  hungering  for 
more.  He  could  not  but  be  fervent,  who  thought  so 
clearly  and  felt  so  deeply."  Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Steven- 
son, of  New  York,  "His  love  for  truth  was  conspicu- 
ous and  unvarying,  his  enthusiasm  and  skill  in  impart- 
ing to  his  students,  whether  collegiate  or  theological, 
his  wealth  of  knowledge,  were  equaled  only  by  his 
ability  to  set  them  upon  independent  lines  of  study  for 
themselves.  In  all  these  respects  he  stood  peer  to  the 
unsurpassed  Dr.  E.  D.  MacMaster,  his  'dearly  loved 
associate  and  brother  in  !New  Albany  Seminary."  It 


—27— 

is  the  affirmation  of  one  of  the  most  judicious  among 
the  students  of  Lane  Seminary,  "  There  is  not  a  young 
man  in  the  Seminary  who  would  not  prefer  losing  his 
dinner  r.ither  than  one  of  Dr.  Thomas'  lectures."  If 
love  of  truth  and  hatred  of  all  superficiality — if  skill 
to  attach  and  lift  the  meanest  intellect  to  unexpected 
heights,  and  animate  it  with  the  apprehension  of  hope 
—if  success  in  rousing  the  mind  from  indolent  and 
passive  sequacity  to  independent  and  active  advance, 
and  inspiring  it  with  confidence  of  its  own  attempts — if 
to  blend  the  severe  and  the  tender,  authority  with  affec- 
tion, the  sparkle  of  wit  with  sober  demeanor,  insuring 
obedience,  respect,  proficiency,  and  love — if  to  infuse 
the  life  of  his  pupils  with  Christian  manliness,  integrity 
of  purpose,  nobility  of  character,  and  the  spirit  of  a 
lofty  aim — if,  above  all,  to  fix  in  their  souls  that  Christ, 
and  Christ  alone,  is  the  only  object  worth  living  for — 
if  these  things  are  the  marks  of  a  prince  among  teach- 
ers, then  he  who  has  gone  to  gaze  on  the  face  of  the 
•'Great  Teacher"  forever,  has  rleft  none  behind  to 
dispute  his  eminence  in  the  qualifications  we  have 
named.  Hundreds  of  young  men,  both  in  and  out  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  are  the  fruit  of  his  faithful 
labors  and  prayers,  some  of  whom  have  gone  peace- 
fully to  their  rest,  or  "fallen  asleep  "  fighting  for  their 
country  on  the  ensanguined  field. 

Shall  I  speak  of  him  as  a  preacher  and  pastor?  How 
imperfect  must  be  my  poor  utterance  in  presence  of 
you  who,  for  thirteen  years,  listened  with  delight  to 
his  instructions  and  were  the  objects  of  his  spiritual 
care!  The  Christian  pastorate  was  to  him  an  awful 
function.  Its  honor  scarce  compensated  for  its  solemn 
responsibility.  He  regarded  it  as  more  noble  than  the 
Aaronic  priesthood.  God,  eternity,  man,  sin^and  salva^ 


—28— 

tion,  are  its  themes.  Yet  nature  and  grace  alike  had 
qualified  him  for  the  pulpit  and  given  him  that  com- 
bination of  endowments,  richness  of  knowledge  and 
spiritual  unction,  which  contributed  so  highly  to  the 
life  and  vigor  of  his  discourse.  He  stood,  the  ornament 
of  the  sacred  desk.  Notwithstanding  the  feebleness 
of  his  voice, 

He  had  Elijah's  dignity  of  tone, 
And  all  the  love  of  the  heloved  John. 

"  He  was  a  burning  and  shining  light."  He  shone 
with  no  doubtful  splendor.  Sensationalism  and  me- 
chanical revivalism  found  in  him  no  support.  The  light 
he  brought  to  the  pulpit  was  no  fancy  blue  and  green,  no 
gaslight,  nor  torchlight,  nor  tallow  flame,  but  heaven's 
own  sunlight,  unclouded,  brilliant  and  pure.  It  was 
"  Christ,  the  Light  of  the  World,"  he  held  up  before 
blinded  men.  If  he  scorched  the  Pharisees,  as  did 
John  the  Baptist  and  the  Master  himself,  it  was  not  a 
hissing  rocket  he  let  off,  no  display  of  Greek  fire,  but 
the  focal  concentration,  ''in  the  spirit  and  power  of 
Blias,"  of  the  truth  of  God,  through  the  Scripture  lens, 
that  made  the  conscience  smoke  and  burn.  And  yet 
who  more  tender?  Who  more  tearful,  in  or  out  of  the 
pulpit?  Was  it  not  the  stern  Baptist  who  said,  "  Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world?"  Was  it  not  Jesus  who  wept  on  Olivet 
after  the  thunder  of  his  denunciations  had  reverberated 
in  the  temple?  Even  such  was  the  case  with  our 
departed.  His  felicity  in  expounding  the  text  or  chap- 
ter, as  the  case  might  be,  his  exhaustive  analysis  and 
presentation  of  the  most  difficult  passages  so  clearly 
that  the  simplest  intellect  might  understand  as  well  as 
the  profoundest  admire,  checked  not  the  flow  of  his 


—29  — 

tenderest  emotions,  nor  the  outburst  of  his  sanctified 
fire.  Where  will  you  find  a  tongue  more  persuasive? 
Who  that  heard  his  exposition  of  the  psalm,  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  or  his  sermon 
on  the  text,  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,"  or 
hundreds  of  others  of  pathetic  appeal,  can  ever  forget 
the  warm  glow  and  the  streaming  tenderness  of  his 
address?  It  was  in  the  heat  of  one  of  the  most  violent 
political  contests  ever  known,  that  during  a  meeting 
of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  one  of  his  strongest  oppo- 
nents, now  with  him  in  glory,  a  man  eminent  on  the 
bench,  heard  him  preach  the  sacramental  sermon  before 
the  Synod.  With  tears  running  down  his  cheeks,  he 
approached,  at  the  close,  to  grasp  the  hand  of  the 
preacher  he  had  never  grasped  before,  and  said,  with 
faltering  voice,  "Dr.  Thomas,  we  are  one  forever!" 
O  blessed,  blessed  Spirit,  who  thus  endowedst  thy  ser- 
vant to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  and 
break  through  the  barriers  of  the  strongest  prejudice! 
And  you,  who  have  marked  his  pathos  and  communion 
with  God,  on  sacramental  occasions,  when  now  he 
would  gather  you  around  the  cross,  and  now  would  lead 
you  to  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  where  his  devo- 
tions overflowed,  how  can  you  forget  his  tenderness 
and  love!  As  one  has  well  said,  what  "a  fragrant 
blossoming  of  study,  thought,  experience,  and  glowing 
love  to  God  and  man!"  None  realized  more  than  he,  as 
he  moved  among  you,  his  own  insufficiency.  He  knew 
that  only  the  power  that  cleaves  the  sea  and  breaks 
the  rocks  could  convert  a  soul — and  knowing  this,  how 
often  he  spake  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men,  and 
prayed  how  fervently!  All  pomp  and  affectation  he 
abhorred.  His  aim  was  not  self-presentation,  but  the 
presentation  of  Christ,  the  conversion  and  edification 


—  30— 

of  souls,  and  the  Christian  walk  and  life  of  his  people. 
Here,  to  this  flock,  for  thirteen  years  he  preached, 

In  language  plain, 

And  plain  in  manner,  decent,  solemn,  chaste, 
And  natural  in  gesture ;  much  impressed 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge 
And  anxious,  mainly,  that  the  flock  he  fed 
Might  feel  it  too.     Affectionate  in  look, 
Aud  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men. 

Eloquence  to  him  was  only  a  vehicle  by  which,  not 
shunning  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  he  be- 
sought, persuaded,  entreated,  and  prayed  men  to  be 
reconciled  to  God.  His  human  models  were  a  New- 
ton, a  Cecil,  a  Baxter,  a  Bunyan,  a  Whitfield,  an  Evans, 
a  Harris,  a  Flavel  and  McCheyne — but,  more  than  all, 
he  drew  his  inspiration  from  a  Paul  and  John,  and 
most  from  the  Master  himself.  Everywhere,  at  Harri- 
son, Hamilton,  New  Albany,  Dayton,  Cincinnati  and 
Walnut  Hills,  he  was  held  in  the  admiration,  reverence 
and  love  of  his  people.  The  fruit  of  his  ministry  was 
extensive  and  precious.  Eternity  alone  will  reveal 
the  number  of  souls  to  whom  it  was  a  blessing-. 

o 

This  magnificent  edifice,  erected  to  the  worship  of 
God  by  your  beneficence  and  his  unwearied  persistence 
and  resolution,  stands  a  monument  of  his  indomitable 
enthusiam,  public  spirit,  and  pastoral  zeal.  He  was  the 
last  man  on  earth  to  put  God  off  with  mean  things. 
Like  the  sainted  Dr.  Edward  Andrews,  of  Wai  worth, 
England,  he  could  answer  every  objector  by  the  short 
argument,  "  God,  my  boy,  should  be  worshiped  with 
the  very  best  of  everything — best  architecture,  best 
painting,  best  organ,  best  music,  best  singing,  best 
poetry,  best  preaching,  best  genius,  best  people.  He 


gave  us  Jesus,  the  best  he  had  to  give.     Shall  we  not 
give  him  our  best  in  return?" 

Dr.  Thomas  was  an  orator  without  a  superior  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  unsurpassed  outside  of  it. 
Had  he  possessed  the  voice  some  men  possess,  a 
world-wide  fame  had  been  his.  But  oratory  consists 
neither  of  declamation,  nor  artistic  elocution,  nor  vocal 
force.  The  throat  of  a  Stentor  could  not  make  it,  nor 
could  all  the  arts  of  a  mere  rhetorical  accomplishment 
create  it.  But  if  a  worthy  cause,  a  virtuous  character, 
a  clear  conception  outrunning  tedious  deduction,  a 
noble  end,  sympathy  with  righteousness,  and  forget- 
fulness  of  self;  if  logical  precision  kindling  into  in- 
tense emotion,  truthful  utterance,  amplitude  of  illus- 
tration and  beauty  of  diction;  if  force  of  imagination, 
tact  of  approach,  readiness  of  anecdote  and  wit,  dig- 
nity -md  deliberation,  relieved  by  fervor  and  grace  of 
bodily  action  and  gesture,  with  emphasis  always  in  the 
right  place — if  these  are  the  essentials  of  an  orator, 
then  Dr.  Thomas  was  second  to  none  in  the  whole  land. 
We  judge,  by  the  rule  of  Cicero,  that  eloquence  is  sim- 
ply "Wisdom  speaking  fluently,"  or  by  the  rule  of 
Quintilian,  that  three  things  mark  the  orator,  "  He 
instructs,  he  moves,  he  delights;"  or  by  the  rule  of 
Augustine,  "  Matters  of  small  moment  are  to  be  spoken 
lowly,  those  of  ordinary  importance  temperately, 
and  great  things  grandly  and  fluently;"  or  by  the 
rule  of  the  gifted  Fenelon,  "The  orator  speaks 
naturally;  bespeaks  not  as  a  declaimer;  things  flow 
from  the  fountain;  his  utterances  are  living  and  full 
oi  movement.  The  heat  that  animates  him  gives  birth 
to  expressions  and  figures  he  could  never  have  fash- 
ioned in  his  study."  And  judged  by  such  canons  as 
these  from  the  writings  of  men  who  have  given  orator- 


—32  — 

ical  law  to  the  world,  Dr.  Thomas  deserved  a  place  be- 
side the  best  orators  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  Dif- 
ficult at  times  to  hear  his  voice,  yet,  when  roused  to 
its  clear  strength  and  impelled  by  the  ardor  that  bore 
him  along,  unconscious  of  his  power,  his  accents 
streamed  through  the  souls  of  men  as  magnetic  cur- 
rents stream,  and  flamed  as  the  lightning  flames!  It 
was  not  literally  true  that  he  made  "  each  particular 
hair  stand  on  end."  It  was,  however,  true,  that  at 
times,  not  a  few  of  the  vast  audience  thought  so. 
Concluded — every  fiber  trembling  with  emotion — he  sat 
down  amid  the  applauses  of  an  enraptured  audience 
whose  pulses  throbbed  high  with  excitement,  and 
whose  unrestrained  admiration  of  the  speaker  broke 
out  in  redoubling,  and,  one  would  think,  unending 
demonstrations.  He  had  the  fire  of  Demosthenes,  the 
diction  of  Tully.  Like  the  elder  Scaliger,  he  touched 
nothing  he  did  not  adorn — "  nil  tetigit  quod  non 
ornavit."  He  was  greater  than  Spurgeon,  greater  than 
Gumming,  greater  than  Parsons  or  Monod,  in  the 
breadth  of  his  accomplishments,  in  the  loftiness  of  his 
intellect,  in  the  brilliancy  of  his  genius,  in  the  impas- 
sioned outbursts  of  his  sympathies,  in  the  eloquence 
of  his  tongue.  In  his  best  moods,  Patrick  Henry  and 
Chatham  would  have  been  proud  of  him.  It  affords 
me  great  pleasure  to  repeat  to  you  here  the  tes- 
timony of  one  of  your  own  journals,  in  support 
of  this  tribute  to  his  oratorical  powers.  Speaking 
of  your  loved  pastor,  it  said:  "During  his  res- 
idence in  Dayton  his  influence  on  all  great  public 
occasions  was  invoked,  and  he  always  gave  to 
any  cause  with  which  he  co-operated  great  strength, 
and  that  which  he  opposed  was  apt  to  break  down  un- 
der his  frown.  Whatever  he  touched  with  his  golden 


—  33  — 

speech  blazed  with  beauty.  His  delivery  was  fiery  and 
impassioned,  though  very  graceful.  His  language, 
which  flowed  from  his  eloquent  lips  in  a  limpid,  un- 
broken volume,  always  seemed  to  fit  the  place  into 
which  it  fell,  as  exactly  as  if  he  had  deliberately 
measured  and  calculated  all  the  proportions  and  con- 
ditions. He  knew  by  intuition  exactly  what  to  say  on 
most  occasions,  and  precisely  how  to  say  it  the  most 
effectively.  As  an  Englishman  would  say,  he  knew 
wonderfully  well  how  to  '  put  things.'  Logic  and 
fancy  seemed  so  admirably  balanced  in  his  mind  that 
you  were  apt  to  consider  his  speeches  perfect.  Among 
the  notable  speeches  of  his  life,  in  DaytonJ,  were  his 
splendid  Thanksgiving  Sermon,  in  1863,  when  he  chose 
*the  Feast  of  Purim,  described  in  Esther,  for  his  text, 
and  his  thrilling  half-hour  speech  in  the  Court  House  on 
the  day  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln — an 
involuntary  burst  of  eloquence  that  never  was  exceeded 
by  any  orator." — Dayton  Journal,  February  4,  1875. 

The  criticism  is  just.  Search  the  denominations 
where  you  will,  go  to  the  State  Legislatures  or  your  halls 
of  Congress,  the  peer  of  Dr.  Thomas  as  an  orator  is 
scarcely  to  be  found.  Dayton  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of 
him.  The  Church  is  proud  of  him.  In  vain — in  vain — 
will  this  people  and  this  community  seek  to  fill  his  place. 
It  can  not  be  filled!  Chrysostom  had  the-golden  mouth, 
Augustine  the  flaming  heart,  Calvin  the  conception  and 
conviction  of  moral  righteousness — our  brother,  gone 
to  glory,  had  them  all! 

I  should  be  guilty  of  injustice  to  the  rare  gifts 
with  which  God  endowed  our  departed  brother,  did  I 
not  mention  among  them  his  poetic  talent.  Could  a 
heart  so  warm,  a  taste  so  exquisite,  a  sense  of  harmony 
and  love  of  music  so  strong,  a  facility  of  expression, 


34 

genius,  and  imagination,  such  as  he  had,  fail  to  utter 
themselves  at  times  in  verse?  Impossible!  Many  are 
his  productions  of  this  kind,  and  of  the  first  literary 
merit.  It  will  be  a  great  loss,  if  these,  in  company  with 
his  lectures,  orations,  and  sermons,  are  not  given 
to  the  Church  in  whose  bosom  he  sparkled  as  a  gem. 
His  lyrics  prove  him  worthy  of  the  bays  that  twined 
around  the  brows  of  Montgomery  and  Watts,  Cowper 
and  Newton,  Wesley  and  McCheyne.  Chiefly  did  he 
delight  to  paraphrase  some  portions  of  the  lively 
oracles,  directly  from  the  original,  warlike  or  peaceful, 
as  his  mood  might  suggest.  Judge  for  yourselves,  as 
I  read  his  beautiful  version  of  Psalm  xxiii.,  whether 
the  strains  of  our  Barak,  sung  during  the  intervals^ 
and  near  the  close,  of  his  long  conflict,  shall  be  allowed 
to  sleep  ill  oblivion: 

Jesus,  Jehovah — Savior,  stands, 

Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  my  soul ; 
His  thoughtful  love,  his  mighty  hands, 

My  wants  supply,  my  foes  control. 

In  shady  meadows,  fresh  and  green, 

Where  sofdy  purling  water  flows, 
While  noonday  showers  her  arrows'  sheen, 

He  grants  me  a  divine  repose. 

,  Whene'er  I  wander  from  the  fold, 

With  patient  toil  he  seeks  for  me, 
In  deserts  drear,  or  mountains  cold, 
And  sets  my  soul  at  liberty. 

To  prove  his  tender  shepherd  care, 

And  guard  me  that  no  more  I  stray, 
With  hands  of  love  and  holy  fear 

He  leads  me,  in  his  own  right  way. 

What  though  it  run  through  death's  dark  vale, 

I  walk — whatever  may  betide, 
Though  hellish  shapes  and  sounds  assail — 

Walk,  tearless,  at  my  Shepherd's  side. 


—  35  — 

Mid  envious  and  malignant  foes, 

Thou  dost  my  table  daily  spread; 
My  cup  with  blessings  overflows, 

And  holy  joy  anoints  my  head. 

Kind  Shepherd — Savior!  all  my  days 

Goodness  and  grace  will  follow  me; 
Safe  in  thy  house  I'll  sing  thy  praise, 

And,  lamb-like,  I  will  follow  thee  ! 

Yet  once  more,  listen  to  his  muse,  as  it  breathed 
JEollan  tones,  a  token  already  that  his  spirit  was 
pluming-  its  wings  to  "  fly  and  find  rest."  The  poem 
was  composed  the  night  after  his  last  eloquent  speech 
before  the  Presbyterian  Ministers'  Association  in  Cin- 
cinnati, wherein  he  protested  so  earnestly  against  the 
encouragement  of  public  excitements,  and  the  advo- 
cacy of  innovations  in  the  doctrine  and  order  of  the 
Church,  which  seemed  to  him  destructive  of  its  very 
foundations.  Debates  prevailed  as  to  fundamental 
theological  truth,  the  emendation  of  the  Standards, 
the  authority  of  the  common  faith  of  the  Church,  the 
encroachment  of  a  female  ministry,  the  permanent  of- 
ficial tenure  of  the  active  eldership,  an  irresponsible 
unlicensed  ministry,  and  fanatical  measures  of  moral 
reform.  He  looked  around  him  and  all  was  stormy. 
The  world  was  agitated.  He  looked  to  the  Church, 
and  beheld  murmuring  and  division  arising1,  notwith- 
standing boasted  external  reunion  and  promised  peace. 
He  looked  within  at  his  own  soul,  and  still  the 
struggle  with  sin  went  on.  He  turned,  as  the  minstrel 
of  Israel  turned,  to  Him  who  pities  the  suppliant,  and 
hears  the  suppliant's  moan.  He  sighed  for  rest.  He 
prayed : 

O  Father  of  mercies,  of  holiness,  harmony,  peace ! 

From  a  world  of  apostasy,  sorely  by  Satan  opprest, 
Despairing,  I  lift  up  mine  eyes  to  the  kingdom  of  bliss ; 

0  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove  !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 


—  36  — 

From  the  waters  of  Noah  the  wanderer  turned  to  the  ark, 

And  pleadingly  knocked  at  the  window  with   fluttering  breast; 

So  might  I,  too,  escape  from  a  lite — sea  so  dreary  and  dark — 
0  give  nie  the  wings  of  a  dove !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 

An  ocean,  tempestuous,  swept  by  the  wild  winds  of  heaven, 

Shadowed  forth  to  the  prophet  earth's  fierce  population  unblest; 

The  tempest  still  rages,  the  sea  to  its  center  is  riven  ; 

0  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 

The  group  of  Laocoon,  tjpe  of  humanity  stands, 

Sin  and  death,  twin  constrictors,  rear  high  their  cerulean  crest 

O'er  father  and  children,  begirt  by  their  horrible  bands ; 
0  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 

Thy  Church,  blessed  Lord,  once  a  kingdom  of  love,  joy,  and  peace, 
Distracted,  discordant,  by  faction  and  folly  possessed, 

No  solace  supplies  to  the  spirit  that  sigheth  for  ease ; 

0  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 

Coming  home  to  my  heart,  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within, 
By  native  depravity,  open  transgression,  distressed, 

Crest-fallen,  I  cry,  in  this  life  and  death  struggle  with  sin, 
O  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove  !     I  would  fly  and  find  rest. 

But,  patience,  my  spirit !  thy  service  and  discipline  o'er, 
Borne  upward  by  angels  to  dwell  in  the  realms  of  the  blest, 

This  wail  of  the  sin-stricken  soul  thou  shalt  utter  no  more : — 
"  0  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove  !"     Thou  shalt-ftj  and  find  rest. 

What  shall  I  say  in  praise  of  this  perfect  produc- 
tion? Palmam,  qui  meruit,  ferat !  "  Let  him,  who  has 
deserved  it,  bear  the  palm!"  Our  Barak  could  not 
only  sweep  the  strings  of  a  David,  but  play  as  sweetly 
on  a  harp  of  his  own. 

The  times  in  which  Dr.  Thomas  lived,  taken  to- 
gether, were  an  epoch-making  period  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  and  the  nation.  The  influence  of  the 
mighty  revival  movement,  during  the  close  of  the  last 
century  and  the  beginning  of  the  present,  was  felt 


—  37  — 

throughout  that  whole  generation  in  which,  as  a  young 
*man,  he  began  his  career.  He  was  himself  part  of  the 
golden  fruit  sprung  from  those  precious  outpourings  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  when  such  men  as  Spring  and  Skin- 
ner, Griffin  and  McDowell,  Barnes,  Brainerd,  Jane  way 
and  Kevins,  Tyng,  Fuller,  Wilson,  Plumer,  Breckin- 
ridge,  Duffield,  Baker  and  Mcllvaine,  were  proclaim- 
ing the  gospel  from  hearts  fired  with  zeal  for  the  sal- 
vation of  souls,  and  building  up  the  American  Church 
which  now  overshadows  the  land  from  north  to  south 
and  from  east  to  west.  In  those  days  the  house  of 
God  was  made  awful  by  reason  of  the  presence  of  the 
Lord.  Revival  was  the  rule,  indifference  the  excep- 
tion. Hundreds  and  thousands  were  gathered  into  the 
gospel  net  during  those  times.  Convicted  sinners, 
pricked  in  their  hearts,  used  to  rise  in  the  sanctuary, 
hundreds  at  once,  and  stand  for  the  prayers  of  God's 
people.  Undreamed  of  wonders  were  beheld  through 
the  opened  windows  of  heaven,  the  showers  coming 
down  not  only  in  their  season,  but  continuing  to  water 
the  hill  of  Zion,  and  make  the  places  round  about  a 
blessing. 

But  while  God  prepares  His  Church  for  blessing, 
and  imparts  the  same,  Satan  ever  seeks  to  counteract 
it,  in  some  measure,  by  the  folly  of  men.  It  was  so, 
especially,  in  the  times  to  which  we  refer.  Enthusiasts 
took  occasion  from  the  presence  of  high  religious  fer- 
vor to  make  human  feelings  and  excitements,  apart 
from  the  divine  word,  the  standards  and  rules  of 
human  duty.  Providence,  fancied  light  in  the  mind, 
and  religious  impressions,  together  with  a  zeal  for 
God  not  according  to  knowledge,  were  practically 
co-ordinated  with  the  revealed  word  of  God,  as  suf- 


—  38  — 

ficient  guides  for  Christian  action.  New  measures, 
unsupported  by  scriptural  warrant,  were  introduced 
into  many  of  the  churches,  giving  rise  to  contentions 
both  in  doctrine  and  order.  The  natural  ability  of  lost 
man  began  to  be  magnified  in  reaction  against  the  true 
conception  of  the  sovereignty  of  divine  grace.  Preach- 
ers, too,  self-sent,  and  self-authorized,  began  to  roam 
abroad,  assuming  an  authoritative  proclamation  of  the 
gospel,  without  responsibility  for  their  teaching  or 
their  manners,  to  any  spiritual  court.  From  public 
halls  they  passed,  at  last,  into  the  churches.  The  au- 
thorized ministry  itself,  influenced  by  the  spreading 
leaven,  gave  countenance  to  the  encroachment  of  dis- 
order. The  result  is  too  well  known.  The  Presby- 
terian Church  was  divided.  Yet  this  was  not  all 
that  entered  into  the  history  of  that  result.  Side 
by  side  with  the  religious  movement  of  the  times, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  a  grievous  departure  in 
the  Church  from  the  old  sentiment  of  the  fathers,  in 
reference  to  the  perpetuation  of  domestic  slavery,  took 
place.  With  this  change  of  sentiment  the  period  of 
violent  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery  agitation  com- 
menced. The  political  affected  the  ecclesiastical,  and 
division  in  the  State  contributed  to  effect  a  division  in 
the  Church. 

It  was  during  such  a  time  as  this  it  pleased  God  to 
call  into  His  kingdom  our  departed  brother.  His  pub- 
lic life  spanned  the  whole  measure  of  the  great  pre- 
dominating slavery  contest,  when  the  voices  of  such 
men  as  Mason  and  Calhoun,  Benton  and  Clay,  Adams 
and  Webster,  Garrison  and  Giddings,  Seward,  Sumner 
and  Wilson,  were  lifted  in  high  debate,  in  the  national 
councils.  They  were  the  times  of  gag-law,  riot 
and  mob,  slavery  extension,  bloody  atrocities  and 


—39  — 

compromise,  iugitive  slave  law  and  Kansas  out- 
rage, the  assertion  of  State  sovereignty  over  Fed- 
eral authority,  and,  in  turn,  of  Federal  usurpation  over 
State  constitutional  enactment.  He  had  lived  to  see 
the  prisons  of  Ohio  made  traps  to  secure  the  rendition 
of  the  fugitive,  and  deeds  of  barbarity  perpetrated  in 
free  States,  by  special  police,  at  the  remembrance  of 
which  humanity  shudders.  He  had  lived  to  see  civil 
and  political  ostracism  reflected  in  ecclesiastic  courts 
and  manners,  and  the  sentiment  of  society  brought  to 
bear  adversely,  in  Church  and  State,  upon  every  man 
who  dared  to  lift  his  voice  in  favor  of  the  freedom  of 
the  slave.  He  had  lived  to  see  his  own  denomination 
thrice  sundered,  and  every  political  party  in  the  land, 
as  well  as  almost  every  evangelical  denomination, 
broken  in  twain  by  the  destructive  conflict.  He  lived 
to  hear  at  length  the  trumpet  of  war  sound  "  to  arms," 
and  to  pass  through  a  struggle  which  cost  the  nation 
the  blood  of  500,000  men  and  an  expenditure  of  3,000,- 
000,000  of  treasure.  He  lived  to  see  slavery  de- 
stroyed, the  flag  of  the  nation  raised  in  proud  triumph 
over  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  the  sundered 
branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  reunited,  save 
where  the  demand  is  still  made  that  the  Northern  As- 
sembly shall  crave  pardon  of  the  South  for  the  sin  of 
its  loyal  deliverances. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  our  brother  deported 
himself  in  reference  to  the  characteristics  of  this 
whole  eventful  period,  his  life  was  a  bright  testi- 
mony. The  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  received  upon 
his  entrance  into  public  life,  remained  with  him  to 
the  last.  The  sacred  fire  never  went  out.  Many 
were  the  revivals  of  religion  in  which  he  labored 
with  the  zeal  of  an  apostle,  drinking  an  abundant 


—40  — 

blessing  to  his  own  soul,  while  made  a  means  of 
abundant  blessing  to  others,  watching  ever  for  the 
early  and  the  latter  rain,  and  in  times  of  drought,  suppli- 
cating, like  the  prophet  on  Carmel,  for  the  torrent  from 
heaven.  With  new  measures  whether  in  doctrine, 
order,  or  worship,  he  had  no  sympathy.  To  an  un- 
authorized and  intermittent  ministry  he  gave  no  sanc- 
tion whatever,  maintaining  that  consecration  to  the 
work  of  reconciling  sinners  to  God  demanded  the 
most  solemn  and  careful  preparation,  and  the  utmost 
nnintermitting  devotion.  Fancied  light  apart  from  the 
word  of  God,  and  supposed  to  be  received  by  prayer, 
he  considered  a  delusion.  Tn  the  words  of  Calvin,  he 
held  that  "  God  has  determined,  indeed,  that  the 
Church  should  be  guided  by  the  Spirit,  but  yet  has 
connected  this  guidance  always  with  the  word  of  God, 
that  there  may  be  no  danger,  or  wavering,  or  uncer- 
tainty, and  that  the  Church  must  have  for  its  basis  in 
all  things  the  word  of  God,  and  not  rest  in  general  im- 
pressions of  the  Holy  Spirit;  that  without  the  word  of 
God,  a  man  fluctuates  to  and  fro  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  is  in  danger  of  becoming  any  thing,  and  that  we 
bring  division  only  on  ourselves,  for  this,  that  we  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  builder  of  His  own 
Church,  by  dividing  Him  from  His  own  word,  it'  be- 
ing not  less  injurious  to  boast  of  the  Spirit  without  the 
word  than  to  appeal  to  the  word  as  uninspired."  As 
to  making  the  providence  of  God  the  interpreter  of 
Church  and  Christian  duty,  in  contravention  of  the  re- 
vealed will  of  God,  he  planted  himself  upon  ^Jie  com- 
mon rule  accepted  by  the  Church  in  all  ages,  viz:  that 
the  providence  of  God  can  never  be  a  light  to  the 
Church  as  against  the  written  word  of  God.  I  know 
of  no  better  expression  of  his  views  upon  this  point 


—41  — 

than  the  words  of  Milton,  who  said :  "  If  it  be  affirmed 
that  God,  as  being  Lord,  can  do  what  He  will,  yet 
must  it  be  said  that  God  hath  no  will  contrary  to  His 
own  order,  or  what  he  hath  already  established  in  His 
own  Church.  The  ways  of  Providence  we  adore  and 
search  not,  but  Liis  revealed  word  is  His  will,  His  com- 
plete, His  evident,  His  certain  will.  Herein  He  ap- 
pears in  human  shape,  binds  Himself  to  His  own  pre- 
scriptions, and  binds  us  beside  to  the  same."  How 
fully  Dr.  Thomas  carried  out  these  views  in  e very-day 
life,  on  all  social  and  public  occasions,  and  enforced 
them  as  against  the  innovations  which,  in  his  view, 
threaten  the  Church  at  the  present  time,  all  his  breth- 
ren who  knew  him  can  bear  witness. 

As  to  the  question  of  slavery  he  was  one  of  the 
foremost  and  most  pronounced  men  of  his  time.  From 
his  youth  he  threw  his  whole  energy  and  heart  into  the 
scale  of  freedom,  and  bared  his  breast  to  all  manner  of 
insult,  proscription,  obloquy  and  reproach.  He  took 
prominent  part  in  the  anti-slavery  conventions  that 
characterized  the  agitations  of  the  period.  Files  of 
newspapers  still  exist,  and  living  witnesses  still  arise, 
to  remind  us  of  the  printed  declarations  that  "  a  young 
preacher  named  Thomas  and  a  young  lawyer  named 
Chase  are  expressing  such  dangerous  sentiments  re- 
garding the  abolition  of  slavery  that  they  ought  to  be 
put  down!"  Christian  men  still  exist  who  remember 
when  every  church  in  Cincinnati  was  closed  against 
"  the  young  preacher  Thomas,"  save  one.  Let  the 
mantle  of  oblivion  forever  cover  the  shame!  Thank 
God,  he  lived  to  see  the  day  when  every  church  in 
Cincinnati  would  welcome  his  entrance  to  its  pulpit, 
and  admiring  audiences  hang  in  rapture  on  his  tongue! 
He  lived  to  see  the  Rev.  E.  D.  MacMaster,  one  of  the 


—  42  — 

greatest  of  living  theologians,  ecclesiastically  cut  down 
by  his  side,  and  driven  by  Southern  influence  from  his 
post  of  usefulness  and  labor.  Let  the  mantle  of  ob- 
livion cover,  too,  the  enormity  of  that  disgrace.  What 
cared  either  of  these  heroes  for  popular  favor  or  popu- 
lar reproach?  Each  could  say,  as  did  the  dauntless 
Chrysostom:  "Let  the  enemy  saw  me  in  sunder  I 
have  Isaiah  before  me!  Let  them  plunge  me  into  the 
fiery  furnace,  I  see  the  three  Hebrew  children  wrapt 
in  the  flames.  If  they  give  me  to  wild  beasts,  Daniel 
was  in  the  lion's  den.  Would  they  stone  me?  Stephen, 
the  proto-martyr,  is  my  example.  Would  they  bid  for 
my  head?  John  Baptist  is  before  me.  Let  them  take 
all  I  have.  Naked  came  I  into  the  world."  Both 
endured  their  reproach  for  the  Master's  sake,  waiting 
in  hope  for  the  day  that  should  crown  their  believing 
expectation — a  day  that  came  to  them  at  last  amid  the 
acclamations  of  a  delivered  Church,  and  the  pseans  of 
a  nation  jubilant  with  songs  of  victory. 

By  some  Dr.  Thomas  has  been  called  "  austere."  If 
by  austerity  is  meant  a  lack  of  gentle  and  loving  dis- 
position, the  charge  is  a  sad  mistake.  If  by  austerity 
is  meant  uncompromising  and  incorruptible  integrity, 
moral  heroism  in  face  of  opposition,  obloquy  and 
reproach,  then  it  is  a  compliment  to  his  Christian  fidel- 
ity, a  glory  whose  brilliance  shall  never  pale  in  the 
luster  of  his  bright  reputation.  He  lived  in  times  of 
social,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  demoralization.  So 
Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist  were  austere.  So  the 
prophets  and  judges  of  Israel  were  austere.  So  Cal- 
vin, and  Luther,  and  Knox,  and  Melvill,  and  Milton, 
and  Cromwell,  and  the  Hampdens,  and  Sidneys,  and 
Pyms,  abroad  in  the  panoply  of  the  gospel  and  in  the 


—43  — 

majesty  of  popular  rights,  were  austere.  So  Christ, 
the  Master,  was  called  "  austere."  To  say  that  the 
corrupt  times  in  which  Mr.  Thomas  lived  stood  in  awe 
of  him,  is  beautifully  to  crown  him  with  honor.  So 
corrupt  Israel  stood  in  awe  of  the  seraphic  EzekieJ, 
the  tearful  Jeremiah.  So  Sisera  stood  in  awe  of  Barak, 
Midian  of  Gideon,  and  the  confederate  kings  of  Canaan 
before  Joshua  on  the  heights  of  Beth-horon.  Your 
neutrality  man,  "  neither  hot  nor  cold,"  "  the  gentle- 
man from  Laodicea,"  as  our  departed  brother  was  wont 
to  baptize  him,  he  could  not  endure.  Dr.  Thomas  was 
no  man  to  trifle  with  high  moral  issues,  nor  with  in- 
sipid obsequious  and  polite  circumlocution,  simper  out 
with  a  French  smile, "  My  dear  Mr.  Elymas,  it  i::ay  be 
possible,  perhaps,  that  peradventure  you  are  laboring 
somewhat  under  the  difficulty  of  a  slight  misapprehen- 
sion." None  of  this.  Blit.  Paul-like,  "O  full  of 
subtilty,  and  all  mischief,  thou  child  ot  the  devil, 
thou  enemy  ot  all  righteousness,  wilt  thou  not  cease  to 
pervert  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord?"  Sin  was  sin  to 
him,  and  he  hated  it  with  a  perfect  hatred.  He  remem- 
bered the  woes  his  Master  had  denounced,  not  only 
over  Bethsaida  and  Chorazin,  but  made  echo  in  the 
priest's  court,  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  Whether 
the  object  of  his  attack  was  slavery  or  popery,  infi- 
delity or  intemperance,  false  science  or  false  legisla- 
tion, the  bar-room  or  the  theater,  a  corrupt  pulpit,  press, 
society,  or  worldly  pleasure — loving  Christianity,  he 
was  "no  respecter  of  persons."  Faithful  among  so 
many  faithless,  unbonght.  unsold,  he  kept  his  gar- 
ments clean.  Manliness,  Christian  heroism,  this  was 
.the  virtue  that  shone  untarnished  through  all  the  rest, 
untarnished,  bright  as  the  sheen  of  the  sun. 


44 

Be  this  thy  crown,  brave  soldier  of  the  cross, 
That  what  men  counted  gain,  thou  only  loss, 
Be  this  thy  glory,  thy  undying  fame, 
That  incorruptible  is  written  o'er  thy  name. 

Shall  I  tell  you  the  secret  of  our  brother's  life,  so 
manly  and  true,  so  courageous  and  noble  ?  It  was  faith 
in  God.  This  magic  spring,  once  touched,  reveals  to  us 
the  hidden  Christian  workings  of  his  soul,  and  explains 
the  grandeur  of  all  his  public  acts.  It  was  this  divine 
virtue  which,  unknown  to  the  "  fearful  and  unbeliev- 
ing," has  ever  been  to  the  brave  their  inspiration  in  the 
hour  of  danger,  and  to  the  feeble  their  strength  in  every 
conflict.  By  it  he  stood,  walked,  ran,  wrestled,  fought, 
endured,  overcame,  lived,  died,  and  entered  heaven. 
"  He  believed  God."  He  "  conferred  not  with  flesh  and 
blood."  He  declared  "  the  whole  counsel  of  God." 
It  was  the  measure  of  his  "Christian  greatness.  The 
object  from  which  its  power  was  derived  was  not  any 
mere  abstract  idea  of  duty  or  law,  right  or  wrong, 
fluctuating  and  powerless,  but  the  living,  personal  God 
Himself,  in  Christ,  and  so,  next  to  God,  his  faith  be- 
came omnipotent.  It  could  master  all  things.  It  was 
no  mere  opinion;  it  was  not  an  intellectual  act  alone, 
but  a  moral  act  as  well,  an  act  which  became,  no  less 
than  a  habit,  the  synthesis  of  reason,  heart,  and  will,  in 
their  spiritual  efflorescence,  the  plural  unit  in  con- 
sciousness, of  spiritual  knowledge,  confidence,  and 
self-surrender,  so  that  to  "  believe  "  was  to  "know,"  and 
"  to  know,"  "  to  believe,"  and  both  to  «  follow."  The 
Holy  Ghost,  thus  grasping  his  whole  intellect,  sensibil- 
ity, and  will,  in  one  divine  renewal,  made  his  whole 
inward  spiritual  life  a  "life  of  faith  on  the  Son  of 
God,"  in  thought,  ieeling,  volition,  and  his  whole  out- 
ward life  a  life  of  "  obedience  even  unto  death."  Hence 


—  45  — 

his  trials;  hence  his  struggles;  hence  his  unflinch- 
ing perseverance  and  glorious  victory.  So  was  it  with 
the  "  elders  "  of  Israel.  Many  virtues  each  possessed 
as  peculiar,  but  this  one,  common  and  pre-eminent 
among  all.  Here  is  the  central  gem,  more  brilliant 
than  all  the  rest,  shining  in  the  crown  of  their  fame, 
and  brightening  as  the  ages  wear  away.  It  was  this 
practical  and  elementary  principle,  this  living  power, 
which  underlaid  the  whole  Christian  life  of  our  brother, 
and  preserved  his  moral  aspect  firm  while  others 
changed  their  Proteus-face,  this  conserving  virtue 
which  in  any  soul,  or  any  people,  is  their  moral  life 
and  health,  but  which,  once  lost,  the  soul,  the  church, 
the  nation,  rots  like  some  base  carcass,  fit  only  for  the 
eagle's  beak,  or  to  be  hidden  out  of  sight. 

By  this  divine  virtue  were  all  the  victories  of  old. 
By  it  Abel  "  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,'7 
Enoch  that  "  he  pleased  God,"  Noah  that  he  should  be 
"  heir  of  the  righteousness  of  faith,"  and  Abraham 
that  in  his  seed  "  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed."  By  it  Moses  rejected,  like  our  brother,  of- 
fered greatness,  "  esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ 
"  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt,  "  choos- 
ing to  suffer  affliction  "  because  he  had  "  respect  to  the 
recompense  of  the  reward."  By  it  Gideon  brake  the 
lamps  and  pitchers  in  the  camp  of  the  Midianites  and 
routed  their  affrighted  host.  By  it  Barak  swept  down 
from  the  summit  of  Tabor,  with  Deborah  at  his  side, 
and  "  led  captivity  captive  "  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon. 
It  was  the  faith  of  Samson  who  smote,  one  day,  a  thou- 
sand Philistines  "  with  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,"  and 
of  Shamgar,  left-handed,  who,  another  day,  smote  six 
hundred  more  "with  an  ox-goad."  It  inspired  the 
Gileadite  valor  of  Jephthah  who  "  smote  the  Ammon- 


—  46  — 

ites  from  Aroer  to  Minnith,  even  twenty  cities  ;  "  the 
faith  which  in  righteous  Samuel  "  hewed  Agag  in 
pieces  before  the  Lord;"  which  in  Hezekiah  became 
"  strength  out  of  weakness;  "  which  in  Joshua  and 
David  "  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,"  and  "  turned 
aliens  to  flight" — Og,  king  of  Bashan,  Sihon,  king  of 
the  Amorites,  Oreb  and  Zeeb,  Zebah  and  Zalnmima,  and 
sent  them,  whirling,  like  thistle-down,  in  the  air,  before 
the  hurricane's  blast.  In  Daniel  and  his  companions  it 
"  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions  and  quenched  the  vio- 
lence of  fire."  It  was  the  faith  of  Paul,  and  of  John, 
and  of  Christ  Himself — the  faith  of  martyrs,  confes- 
sors, reformers,  and  saints  in  all  ages,  who  have  run 
their  race,  and  fought  their  fight,  "  looking  unto 
Jesus." 

Nor,  in  closing  this  imperfect  portrait  of  our  de- 
parted brother,  could  I  do  better  than,  imitating  an 
inspired  precedent,  emphasize,  in  a  brief  enumeration, 
some  of  the  victories  of  his  own  faith,  whereby,  like 
elders  in  other  days,  he  approved  himself  unto  God, 
and  "obtained  a  good  report." 

By  faith  it  was  that,  in  1831,  when  nineteen  years 
old,  he  "  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the. hope  set  be- 
fore him  in  the  gospel,"  and  committing  body  and 
soul  to  Jesus,  as  to  a  faithful  Creator  and  living  Re- 
deemer, laid,  by  this  one  act,  the  foundation  of  all  his 
future  victories  over  self,  sin,  the  world,  Satan,  death, 
the  grave,  and  hell  ! 

By  faith,  in  1836,  when  twenty-four  years  old,  he 
began  to  "  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ " 
to  dying  men,  and  in  the  blessing  which  crowned  his 
faithful  ministry  of  forty  years  obtained  witness  that 
he  was  "  a  chosen  vessel  "  to  turn  men  "  irom  darkness 
to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  Uod." 


—  47  — 

By  faith,  in  1843,  when  only  thirty-one  years  old,  he 
encountered  in  debate,  during  the  September  Sessions 
of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  at  Hamilton,  the  President 
of  Miami  University — now  singing  hallelujahs  beside 
him  in  glory — who,  during  nine  hours,  defended  the 
proposition  that  the  apostle,  in  1  Timothy  vi.  1-5,  uses 
the  term  "  yoke  "  to  indicate  New  Testament  coun- 
tenance of  involuntary  and  perpetual  slavery,  and,  in 
an  impromptu  response  of  five  hours,  lifting  his  voice 
like  a  trumpet,  blew  upon  his  antagonist  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Isaiah  Iviii.  6,  commanding 
the  oppressor  to  "  undo  the  heavy  burdens,  to  let  the 
oppressed  go  free,  and  to  break  every  yoke!  "  And  by 
faith,  when  threatened  with  riot  and  mob-law  in  his 
ministry,  he  lifted  his  voice  only  the  louder. 

By  faith,  in  1846,  when  thirty-fgur  years  old,  he  stood 
with  the  now  sainted  Fullerton,  of  Chillicothe,  in  the 
General  Assembly,  in  Philadelphia,  and  contended 
against  almost  the  entire  body,  for  principles  of  right- 
eousness, now  received  without  question  by  the  whole 
Northern  Church,  and  gave  evidence,  as  an  eminent 
survivor  declares  it,  that  both  "  he  and  his  friend  were 
fearfully  and  wonderful  in  earnest." 

By  faith,  in  1849,  when  thirty-seven  years  old,  he 
assumed  the  duties  of  the  Presidency  of  Hanover  Col- 
lege, in  an  eventful  crisis,  all  eyes  being  turned  to  him 
for  succor,  and  all  hands  outstretched  to  welcome  him, 
and  four  years  later  was  inducted  into  his  chair  in 
New  Albany  Seminary,  and,  later  still,  in  Lane  Semin- 
ary, challenging,  in  these  three  institutions,  the  ad- 
miration of  colleagues  and  directors,  for  his  integrity 
and  zeal,  and  leaving  behind  him  a  multitude  of  pupils 
who  mourn  his  loss,  and  cry  after  him  as  they  gaze  on 
his  bright  ascension,  "  My  father  !  my  father  !  the 
chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horseman  thereof  1" 


—48  — 

By  faith,  in  1859,  when  forty-seven  years  old,  he 
despaired  not,  when  beholding  his  brave  colleague  cut 
down  on  the  floor  of  the  General  Assembly  by  voices 
and  votes  of  Southern  sentiment,  but  declared  that 
God  would  yet  exalt  his  head,  which  God  did,  tri- 
umphantly, seven  years  later,  in  1866,  when,  with  As- 
sembly acclamation,  he  was  borne  to  the  very  chair 
from  which,  seven  years  before,  he  had  been  driven  by 
a  Church  in  chains  to  slavery. 

By  faith,  in  1861,  when  forty-nine  years  old,  he 
lifted  his  manly  voice  in  the  General  Assembly,  at 
Philadelphia,  protesting  against  the  effort  there  made 
to  commit  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  silence,  in  that 
hour  when  treason  unsheathed  its  sword  against  the 
national  government,  and  the  blood  of  brethren  in  the 
same  fold  was  soon  to  flow  in  streams,  either  to  term- 
inate or  extend  and  "  conserve  "  the  system  of  Ameri- 
can slavery. 

By  faith,  in  1866,  when  fifty- four  years  old,  he  stood 
upon  the  platform  of  the  General  Assembly  at  St. 
Louis — notable  forever  in  the  history  of  the  Church— 
and  delivered  upon  the  exciting  issues  of  that  hour,  a 
speech  the  vibrations  of  which  still  tingle  in  the  mem- 
ory of  all  who  heard  it,  an  impromptu  effort  carry- 
ing the  house  by  storm,  and  which,  could  European 
Liberators  and  Reformers  have  matched  it,  would 
have  won  them  the  honor  of  being  drawn  in  laureled 
triumph  through  the  streets. 

By  faith,  in  1873,  when  sixty-one  years  old,  and  his 
hairs  had  begun  to  silver  for  the  tomb — rich  in  the  ex- 
perience of  many  a  conflict,  yet  richer  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  communion  with  his  Lord — he  was  able  to  say, 
in  calm  review  of  all  his  struggles,  trials,  and  whole 
Christian  life,  "  I  gave  myself  to  Christ  forty-two  years 


—  49  — 

ago.     From  the  hour  of  my  first  confidence  in  Christ 
.1  have  never  doubted  His  interest  in  me,  nor  mine  in 
Him!" 

By  faith,  in  1874,  when  sixty-two  years  old,  over- 
borne by  accumulated  labors — weary  of  the  "  life  and 
death  struggle  with  sin,"  longing  for  "home"  and 
sighing  to  "fly  away  and  find  rest" — he  rallied  his 
drooping  spirit,  and,  drawing  comfort  from  the  promise 
of  Christ  to  find  him  a  place  in  heaven,  woke  his  muse 
to  sing,  and  his  harp  to  breathe  its  last  sweet  min- 
strelsy : 

O  G-uardian  Savior !  who  hast  led 
My  steps  from  earliest  infancy, 
Thou  hadst  not  where  to  lay  Thy  head, 
Yet  Thou  hast  found  a  place  for  me  ! 

And  when  my  spirit  wings  her  flight, 

I  dare  not  doubt  that  I  shall  see, 
In  worlds  of  everlasting  light, 

The  promised  HOME  prepared  for  me. 

And  so,  by  faith,  in  1875,  when  sixty-three  years 
old — his  course  nearly  run — he  calmly  called  to  his 
side  his  sons  one  day,  saying  to  each,  "  Give  me  your 
hand,  my  son;  kiss  me!" — still  concealing  in  his  heart 
the  consciousness  of  his  approaching  departure.  And 
so,  shortly  after,  leaving  the  wife  of  his  youth  and  his 
dear  surviving  ones  to  struggle  on  a  little  longer  in 
this  world  of  sin,  he  closed  his  eyes  and  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus. 

Leave Leonidas  to  his  glory  at  Thermopylae!  Admire 
the  greatness  of  Epaminonclas  who  refused  to  let  the 
spear  be  drawn  from  his  side  till  the  shout  of  Thebaii 
victory  rang  in  his  ears!  Their  laurels  fade  before 
those  of  our  Barak,  who,  during  a  whole  generation, 
stood  in  the  moral  breach  till  conquest  bore  him  in 
triumph  to  his  reward. 


Farcwell,  brave  soldier  of  the  cross!  Thou  art  gone 
to  banquet  with  comrades  in  arms  gathered  from  all 
ages  around  the  table  of  thy  great  Captain — with 
patriarchs  and  prophets,  judges  and  kings,  apostles 
and  the  Master  himself — with  martyrs,  reformers,  con- 
fessors and  saints,  whose  robes  are  "  made  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb " — with  bright  "  stars  "  in  that 
"cloud  of  witnesses"  whose  trailing  galaxy  reveals 
the  face  of  thine  own  Fullerton,  and  of  the  sainted 
MacMaster  who  said,  with  his  dying  breath,  "  /  have 
fought  a  good  fight;  I  have  finished  my  course;  I 
have  kept,  the  faith!"  Blessed  company  ye  are  ! 
What  beauty  blooms  upon  your  countenances,  ye  vet- 
erans of  the  Lord,  once  so  worn  with  care!  What 
smiles!  What  happiness!  That  crystal  river!  Those 
palms  and  golden  crowns!  That  multitude  of  "the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect!"  That  song  of  vic- 
tory in  which  the  angels  join!  That  Paradise. of  God! 
And  thoii — Thomas  Ebenezer  Thomas — could  human 
breasts  be  laid  open  for  inspection,  thy  image  would 
be  found,  here  graven  as  with  the  point  of  a  diamond! 
Dead,  yet  speaking,  thy  voice  shall  still  be  heard 
saying,  "This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it!"  The  mem- 
ory of  thy  light,  as  it  set  below  our  western  horizon, 
shall  long  leave  within  us  the  wake  of  its  brightness, 
to  gild  our  pathway  to  the  tomb!  As  we  follow  thee 
to  thy  rest,  thy  example  shall  still  inspire  us  to  emu- 
late the  deeds  thy  faith  has  made  immortal! 

Peaceful  be  the  slumber  of  thy  mortal  remains! 
White  sentinels,  unseen,  watch  the  dust  that  is  pre- 
cious in  the  sight  of  God.  Yet  a  little  while,  and 
"  the  trumpet  shall  sound,"  and  "the  dead  in  Christ 
shall  rise  first,"  and  we,  and  thou,  and  thine, 
and  the  whole  Church  of  God,  shall  meet  to  be 


—  51  — 

severed  again,  never,  forevermore !  Together  we  shall 
survey  the  past,  recount  the  dangers  of  the  way,  and 
sing  the  victories  of  faith. 

And,  now,  unto  Him  who  created  thee,  renewed 
thee,  endowed  thee,  tried  thee,  sustained  thee — who 
o-ave  thee,  took  thee,  and  soon  will  restore  thee — to 

O  '  ' 

Him,  the  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  the  First-begotten 
from  the  dead,  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  and 
Captain  of  salvation,  be  all  glory  and  honor,  and  power 
and  majesty,  and  might  and  dominion,  in  all  the 
churhes,  and  throughout  all  the  world,  both  now  and 
forever.  Amen  and  amen! 


The  dead  are  like  the  stars  by  day. 

Withdrawn  from  mortal  eye; 
But,  not  extinct,  they  hold  their  way 

In  glory  through  the  sky. 
Spirits,  from  bondage  thus  set  free, 
Vanish  amid  immensity ! 


AMONG  the  various  written  communications  privately  re- 
ceived from  ministerial  brethren,  during  the  preparation  of 
the  preceding  discourse,  there  are  two  whose  contents  de- 
serve to  be  appended  to  the  discourse  itself,  as  part  of  the 
widespread  tribute  of  affection  spontaneously  offered  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased.  These  communications  are  from 
the  pens  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  of  New  York  City, 
and  Rev.  S.  F.  Scovel,  D.  D.,  of  Pifctsburg,  Pennsylvania. 
Acknowledgments  are  due,  not  only  to  these  brethren,  but 
also  to  Cyrus  Falconer,  M.  D.,  of  Hamilton,  Ohio,  Rev.  George 
C.  Heckman,  D.  D.,  President  of  Hanover  College,  Indiana, 
for  written  accounts  of  Dr.  Thomas,  and  to  Rev.  A.  A.  E. 
Taylor,  D.  D.,  President  of  Wooster  University,  Ohio,  Rev.  J. 
G.  Monfort,  D.  D.,  editor  of  the  Herald  and  Presbyter,  Rev. 
J.  L.  Evans,  D.  D.,  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  and  others 
from  whose  published  notices  of  Dr.  Thomas,  valuable  facts 
have  been  drawn,  and  accuracy  reached  as  to  some  important 
dates  in  his  life.  The  memorial  resolutions  passed  by  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Dayton,  the  Seventh  Presbyterian 
Church,  Cincinnati,  the  Presbyterian  Ministers'  Association, 
Cincinnati,  the  Bo.ird  of  Trustees  of  Miami  University,  of 
which  Dr.  Thomas  was  so  long  a  member,  and  by  the  colored 
people  of  Dayton,  merit,  though  not  here  inserted,  to  be 
mentioned  in  company  with  the  numerous- testimonies  of  the 
press,  both  secular  and  religious,  as  part  of  the  universal  ex- 
pression of  sorrow  and  esteem,  evoked  by  the  death  of  Dr. 
Thomas.  In  addition  to  the  papers  of  Drs.  Scovel  and  Stev- 
enson, the  memorial  actions  of  the  Trustees  and  Faculty  and 
students  of  Lane  Seminary  are  appended,  together  with  a 


—  54  — 

brief  notice  of  the  funeral  services.  The  memorial  tribute 
of  Cincinnati  Presbytery,  of  which  Dr.  Thomas  was  a  mem- 
ber at  the  time  of  his  death,  is  also  properly  added. 

FUNERAL    OF   DR.    THOMAS. 

The  remains  of  Dr.  Thomas  were  conveyed,  by  sorrowing 
friends,  to  their  last  resting-place  in  the  public  cemetery  at 
Dayton,  Ohio,  on  Friday,  February  5,  1875.  At  nine  o'clock 
of  the  morning,  the  ministers  of  the  city  of  Cincinnati  and 
suburbs,  together  with  a  large  concourse  of  friends,  met  at 
the  residence  of  the  deceased,  on  Walnut  Hills,  near  Lane 
Theological  Seminary,  to  pay  to  the  honored  dead  the  trib- 
ute of  their  respect.  The  professors  of  the  Seminary,  and 
the  whole  body  of  students,  were  present.  Appropriate  ser- 
vices were  conducted  at  the  house  by  Rev.  Hugh  Smythe, 
pastor  of  the  Seventh  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  and 
Rev.  J.  G.  Monfort,  D.  D.,  editor  of  the  Herald  and  Presby-  ' 
ter.  The  pall-bearers  were  Rev.  Dr.  Evans,  Professor  in 
Lane  Seminary,  Dr.  Worrall,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  Covington,  Kentucky,  and  Dr.  West,  pastor  of  the 
Lincoln  Park  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  and  Elders 
W.  W.  Scarborough,  of  the  Walnut  Hills  Church,  Dr.  James 
Taylor,  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  and 
H.  W.  H  ighes,  of  Grlendale.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  pre- 
liminary services  in  the  house,  the  remains  were  conveyed, 
by  train,  to  the  city  of  Dayton,  where  a  relay  of  pall-bearers, 
chosen  from  officers  and  members  of  Dr.  Thomas'  last  pas- 
toral charge,  were  waiting  to  relieve  those  to  whose  care  the 
remains  had  already  been  intrusted.  They  were  borne 
from  the  depot  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  a  magnifi- 
cent edifice  erected  by  the  liberality  of  the  congregation 
during  the  pastorate  of  the  deceased.  As  the  coffin  entered, 
the  bell  tolling,  and  passed  through  the  main  aisle  to  the 
bier,  in  front  of  the  pulpit  from  which,  so  often,  the  eloquence 
of  the  deceased  had  streamed  in  other  days,  the  tears  and 
sympathies  of  the  vast  audience  betrayed  how  deeply  he  had 
enshrined  himself  in  the  admiration  and  affections  of  the* 


—  55  — 

people.  The  vast  massive  edifice  was  thronged  by  mourners 
from  all  parts  of  the  adjacent  country.  Hundreds  of  persons 
who  came  ;<  to  pay  the  last  sad  tribute"  to  the  incomparable 
virtues  of  the  deceased  were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  The 
great  audience-room,  the  chapel,  the  vestibule,  the  hall,  and 
all  the  approaches,  were  crowded  to  their  utmost  capacity. 
The  services  were  tender,  impressive  and  solemn.  After  an 
appropriate  anthem  by  the  choir,  the  Scriptures  were  read 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Evans,  of  Lane  Seminary.  Prayer  was  offered 
by  Rev.  Dr.  McKniglit,  of  Springfield,  Ohio.  Rev.  Dr.  Wor- 
rall,  of  (Jovington,  Kentucky,  read  the  hymn  commencing 
with  the  words : 

"  There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight." 

After  the  singing  of  which,  by  the  congregation,  Rev.  Dr. 
Smith,  of  Lane  Seminary,  delivered  the  funeral  sermon  from 
the  words  of  the  dying  Savior,  recorded  in  Luke  xxiii.  46 : 
"Father!  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit,"  a  discourse 
full  of  comfort,  pathos,  and  power.  The  concluding  prayer 
was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  West,  of  Cincinnati.  The  following 
beautiful  hymn  of  Montgomery,  printed  on  slips  of  paper 
and  distributed  through  the  house,  was  then  read  by  Rev.  O 
A.  Hills,  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  and 
sung  by  the  congregation  standing : 

"  Servant  of  God  !  well  done ; 

Kest  from  thy  lov'd  employ ; 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 

Enter  thy  Master's  joy." 

The  voice  at  midnight  came ; 

He  started  up  to  hear, 
A  mortal  arrow  pierced  his  frame ; 

He  fell,  but  felt  no  fear. 

At  midnight  came  the  cry, 

"  To  meet  thy  God  prepare ! " 
He  woke — and  caught  his  Captain's  eye ; 

Then  strong  in  faith  and  prayer, 

His  spirit,  with  a  bound, 

Burst  its  incumbering  clay ; 
His  tent,  at  sunrise,  on  the  ground, 

A  darken'd  ruin  lay. 


—  56  — 

The  pains  of  death  are  past, 

Labor  and  sorrow  cease, 
And  life's  long  warfare  clos'd  at  last, 

His  soul  is  found  in  peace. 

•  Soldier  of  Christ !  well  done ; 

Praise  be  thy  new  employ ; 
•          And  while  eternal  ages  run, 
Rest  in  thy  Savior's  joy. 

The  benediction  was  pronounced  by  Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  of 
Lane  Seminary,  after  which  the  large  body  of  ministers  in 
attendance  first  passed  out,  immediately  followed  by  the 
congregation.  TJie  procession  troved  to  the  public  ceme- 
tery where  the  last  solemn  service  was  performed  in  a  most 
touching  and  impressive  manner  at  the  grave,  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Skinner,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincin- 
nati. 

The  coffin  of  the  deceased  was  richly  ornamented  and 
strown  with  flowers.  A  portrait  of  the  deceased  was  hung 
beneath  the  pulpit  in  view  of  the  congregation  during  the 
service.  Near  the  coffin  stood  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  fully  ripe. 
The  scene  was  one  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  It  spoke  in 
language  not  to  be  misunderstood,  the  high  and  loving  ap- 
preciation in  which  the  religious  community  held  the  life, 
character,  services,  and  memory  of  Dr.  Thomas. 

TRIBUTE    OF   DR.    SCOVEL. 

Sketch  of  Dr.  Thoma*  from  1849-1857.— Dr.  Thomas  was 
not  only  well  known  to  the  friends  of  Hanover  College  by 
general  reputation,  but  had  won  their  special  admiration  by 
the  able  and  admirable  address  delivered  at  one  of  the  com- 
mencements on  "  The  Literary  Merits  of  the  Bible."  When, 
therefore,  death  had  bereaved  the  college,  in  July,  1849,  of 
one  whose  short  presidency  had  been  signally  blessed  in  im- 
proving the  financial  condition  of  the  college,  and  accom- 
panied by  remarkable  revivals,  all  eyes  turned  at  once  to 
Dr.  Thomas,  and  all  hands  were  stretched  out  to  him.  He 
came  promptly,  and  seemed  to  bring  his  whole  soul  and  ma- 
tured powers  to  the  work.  In  1853  the  Theological  Semin- 


—  57  — 

ary,  at  New  Albany,  having  overtured  the  Assembly,  and 
very  properly  dissatisfied  with  the  response,  resolved  to  con- 
tinue its  sessions,  and  in  1854  made  an  appeal  to  Dr.  Thomas 
to  come  to  its  help.  He  brought  with  him  students  as  well  as 
qualifications,  and  labored  with  success  as  Professor  of 
Church  History  and  Her meneu tics,  adding  also  occasional 
lectures  on  the  Ministry  and  its  Work.  This  continued  until 
the  second  and  final  crisis  of  this  seminary's  history,  begin- 
ning with  the  cessation  of  its  sessions  in  i857,  and  termina- 
ting in  Chicago  in  1859. 

Having  become  much  endeared  by  occasional  ministra- 
tions to  the  Old  School  Church,  in  New  Albany,  he  became 
stated  supply  for  that  Church,  and  from  this  relation  re- 
moved to  Dayton  in  1859. 

In  all  the  relations  of  an  active  and  broad  life,  Dr.  Thomas 
was  pre-eminently  manly.  There  was  no  concealment  of 
convictions  and  no  pandering  to  prejudices.  The  instinct  of 
justice  was  easily  roused  in  him,  and  never  failed  to  carry 
with  it  that  blaze  of  indignation  which  proved  its  genuine- 
ness. He  loved  all  good,  and  with  equal  positiveness  hated 
all  evil.  Assumption  and  pretension  were  absolutely  foreign 
to  him.  His  integrity  was  secured,  and  made  the  more  strik- 
ing, by  his  simplicity.  There  was  sincerity  in  the  glance  of 
his  eye,  the  grasp  of  his  hand,  and  the  tone  of  his  voice. 
Whether  on  great  or  small  accasions,  on  the  street  or  in  his 
study,  he  was  always  the  same  genuine  true  hearted  man. 
Bis  sympathies  were  quick  and  his  emotions  lively.  The 
fountain  of  tears  and  the  spring  of  laughter  were  very 
nearly  on  the  same  level  with  him.  Without  a  touch  of  lev- 
ity <>r  unsteadiness,  he  was  exquisitely  mobile  and  sensitive 
to  grave  or  gay.  What  a  treasure  it  was  when  he  opened 
his  heart  in  tenderness,  or  his  memory  in  anecdote,  or  gave 
play  to  bright  association  and  wit.  Such  character  made 
him  almost  the  idol  of  young  men.  He  was  never  inacces- 
'sible,  and  never  inconsiderate.  He  was  not  weak,  and  did  by 
no  means  always  cry  "  bene,  bene,"  but  when  he  corrected 
us,  it  was  easily  seen  that  the  offense  gave  pain  and  correc- 
tion was  no  pleasant  task.  His  religious  experience,  as  far 


—  58  — 

as  it  became  known  to  us,  was  that  which  belonged  to  such 
a  character.  It  was  full  of  fervor,  of  enjoyment  of  God  in 
nature  and  mind  and  art,  and  of  deep  thought ;  and  found 
honest  and  frank  expression  in  private  and  public.  In  all 
things  and  everywhere  he  was  real,  sterling,  genuine;  a  man 
whose  memory  must  grow  the  more  powerful  for  good  the 
mere  sadly  one  learns  to  contrast  him  with  the  many  who 
are  not  like  him.  He  was  honest,  bold,  fearless,  sincere,  and 
sympathetic.  His  graces  and  his  gifts  alike  came  out  in  his 
work. 

As  President,  he  came  to  a  most  difficult  task,  and  never 
shrank  from  toil  in  accomplishing  it.  The  financial  problem 
pressed  all  the  time  in  the  form  of  supplying  sala- 
ries from  an  inadequate  fund,  and  urging  a  half-interested 
and  struggling  church  to  the  work  of  building  and  endow- 
ment. If  there  was  error  in  anything  of  this  nature,  it  was 
the  error  of  trusting  too  implicitly  the  promises  made  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  by  representatives  of  the  church. 
Along  with  this,  Dr.  Thomas  entered  quite  as  vigorously  upon 
efforts  to  uplift  the  standard  of  scholarship,  to  improve  the 
methods  of  teaching,  to  increase  the  library  and  apparatus 
and  cabinets.  This  would  be  expected  from  one  so  fond  of 
learning,  and  of  thoroughness  in  it,  and  whatever  difficulties 
he  encountered  in  this  direction  were  unflinchingly  met,  and 
all  the  success  possible  under  the  circumstances  was  won. 
Administratively,  Dr.  Thomas  endeared  himself  to  every 
honest  man  in  the  college,  and  made  himself  respected  by 
the  worthless  and  bad.  Resoluteness  and  tenderness  were 
always  combined.  Personal  interviews  were  preferred  to 
public  and  stinging  rebukes.  Playful  banter  sometimes  ac- 
complished what  scolding  could  not  have  secured.  His  flex- 
ible nature  fitted  easily  into  the  exigencies  of  the  situation. 
He  never  emphasized  amiss.  An  immorality  found  him 
firm  and  fiery,  or  tender,  according  as  rebellion  or  submission 
marked  the  offender's  deportment.  He  knew  when  to  appeal 
to  the  nobler  thoughts  always  accessible  in  young  men. 
Once,  when  many  of  the  best  men  of  the  college  had  been 
led  into  signing  a  protest  against  the  discipline  of  an  offend- 


—  59  — 

er,  I  remember  to  have  watched  the  tears  trickle  through 
the  fingers  that  covered  his  face,  while  the  morning  prayer 
was  being  offered  by  another  member  of  the  Faculty.  And 
then,  what  an  appeal !  The  most  thoughtless  of  us  bent 
under  the  power  of  a  great  heart  administering  justice  for 
our  good. 

As  a  teacher,  Dr.  Thomas  was  unsurpassed.  He  passed 
easily  from  department,  to  department,  appreciating  thorough 
work  and  detecting  shams  everywhere.  His  method  was 
varied,  but  always  intelligible.  Adhering  to  the  text-book,  it 
was  only  as  the  body  adheres  to  the  spinal  column.  He 
built  up  upon  text-books  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
whole  subject.  No  question  ever  found  him  off-guard,  and 
none  ever  frightened  him  into  an  unwary  decision  or  harsh 
reproof.  Though  not  always,  he  used  often  the  Socratic 
method,  and  brought  the  pupil  by  successive  and  unerring 
steps  face  to  face  with  his  former  blunder,  to  his  temporary 
confusion  but  permanent  benefit.  Wit  and  humor  were  used 
as  lubricators  and  stimulants  for  attention.  In  the  profes- 
sional chair  of  the  seminary,  Dr.  Thomas  commended  to  all 
his  pupjls,  by  method  and  example,  a  conscientious  thorough- 
ness of  investigation,  and  a  fearless  acceptance  of  the  final 
results  of  sound  interpretation.  He  was  sincere  in*  holding 
the  authority  of  the  word  of  God  to  be  superior  to  that  of 
creeds  and  councils.  I  heard  him  lamenting  that  the  library 
was  deficient  in  the  "  Fathers,"  and  then  turning,  with  that 
merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  to  say  in  the  same  breath, "  But  we 
have  the  Grandfathers.'1'1  He  had  an  enthusiasm  for  the 
grammar  and  the  lexicon,  as  "  the  nearest  doors  into  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit.'* 

And  the  impressions  made  by  the  man  and  the  master 
were  supplemented,  perhaps  surpassed,  by  those  which  he 
made  upon  us  as  preacher.  Here  all  his  varied  powers  and 
solid  character  combined.  He  was  expository,  but  never 
tediously  minute  or  over-critical.  No  matter  how  long  his 
sermon,  there  was  always  an  impression  left  that  he  saw 
yet  much  more  in  the  subject.  He  was  a  model  in  freedom 
of  action  without  a  touch  of  violence,  of  fervor  without  a 


—  60  — 

moment's  loss  of  self-possession,  of  musical,  rhythmical  and 
expressive  diction  without  a  suspicion  of  any  false  arts  of  the 
rhetorician.  His  preaching  was  simply  the  man  and  the 
student,  and  the  Christian,  kindled  into  superlative  and  in- 
tense activity.  I  am  sure  he  never  had  his  equal  in  America 
in  the  peculiar  precision  of  his  expression,  joined  with  flexi- 
bility and  warmth.  There  are  precise  men  who  are  cold,  and 
warm  men  who  are  not  precise.  There  are  men  who  are 
sometimes  both  clear  and  warm,  but  they  betray  the  marks 
of  effort  and  diligence  to  appear,  the  one  or  the  other.  But 
with  Dr.  Thomas  all  was  as  natural  as  the  easy  flow  of 
limpid  water.  The  sincerity  of  his  preaching  was  more  evi- 
dent to  me  than  that  of  any  man  I  have  ever  heard,  not  ex- 
cepting Spurgeon.  At  times,  when  subjects  of  commanding 
interest  opened  before  him,  he  seemed  to  forget,  as  most  of 
his  audience  did,  the  limitations  of  time  and  endurance.  In 
quiet  summer  afternoons,  during  his  presidency,  with  the  au- 
dience of  young  men  seated  solidly  in  front  of  him,  'with 
Robinson's  Greek  Harmony  open  in  his  hand,  and  a  section 
of  the  Life  of  Christ  under  review,  I  have  known  him  to 
hold  the  students  and  audience  beyond  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  leave  them  hungering  for  more.  He  could  not  but  be 
fervent  "who  taught  so  clearly  and  felt  so  deeply.  Rarely 
was  a  whole  sermon  controversial,  and  rarely  a  whole  ser- 
mon without  some  trenchant  blow  at  unbelief  or  error. 
He  knew  the  Papacy  and  hated  it.  And  no  conflict  with 
error  but  seemed  to  settle  him  deeper  in  the  truth.  He  was 
an  oak,  and  gathered  new  life  out  of  the  storms.  His  imag- 
ination was  vivid,  but  exquisitely  discriminating  and  chaste. 
In  all  his  powerful  figures  I  never  heard  a»gross  one. 

In  short,  as  preacher  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  he  brought 
all  his  resources  and  all  his  powers,  and  all  in  the  most  per- 
fect subjection  and  in  their  highest  exercise,  to  the  work  of 
glorifying  God  and  saving  souls.  Such,  and  so  great,  was 
our  loved  Dr.  Thomas. 


—  61  — 
TRIBUTE    OF   DR.    STEVENSON. 

I  think  of  my  dear  brother  Thomas  as  a  schoolmaster,  a 
pastor,  a  professor,  and  a  beloved  friend,  and  in  each  of  these 
I  find  illustrations  of  his  love  for  the  right,  his  heroism  in 
its  defense,  his  warmth  of  domestic  and  social  affection,  and 
his  breadth  and  strength  of  Christian  character.  1  first  met 
Dr.  Thomas  in  1831-32  as  a  fellow-student  at  Miami  Univer- 
sity in  the  palmy  days  of  that  institution,  when  the  vener- 
able Dr.  Bishop  was  its  head,  and  Professors  McGufFey,  Scott, 
Armstrong  and  McCrackjen  its  active  and  honored  teachers. 
Of  the  two  hundred  and  more  young  men  there,  he  stands 
before  memory's  eye  now,  as  he  then  appeared,  honest,  earn- 
est, vivacious,  with  a  sturdy  and  compact  body,  a  clear  and 
perspicacious  mind,  and  a  devout  and  loving  heart,  which 
easily  distinguished  him  from  most  of  his  companions.  All 
loved  him;  few  cared  to  meet  him  either  in  the  struggles  of 
the  playground  or  in  the  debating  hall,  while  all,  of  like 
mind,  rejoiced  to  join  him  in  the  prayer-meeting  and  the 
"  Society  of  Inquiry." 

Two  incidents  of  his  college  life  I  recall,  as  will  many 
others,  with  special  vividness.  In  1833  the  cholera,  a  far 
, more  dreaded  scourge  than  now,  made  its  sudden  and  death- 
ful  appearance  at  Oxford,  and  within  the  first  few  hours 
swept  away  several  citizens.  The  students  in  the  university 
were  soon  in  a  complete  panic,  and  determined  to  leave  in  a 
body.  The  Faculty  counseled  calmness  and  delay,  but  the 
fright  of  the  students  was  uncontrollable,  and  the  entire  body 
met  in  the  chapel  and  discussed  the  duty  of  a  rebellion 
against  the  authorities.  A  vote  was  soon  reached,  and  only 
six  names  were  found  in  the  negative;  of  these  six  Bro. 
Thomas  was  one.  He  believed  it  right  to  obey  the  author- 
ities, and  he  defended  his  convictious  against  an  overwhelm- 
ing and  intolerant  majority,  with  a  true  heroism  which  ever 
after  characterized  his  life. 

His  ardent  love  for  the  truth  and  his  deep  emotional  na- 
ture were  signally  illustrated  by  a  very  different  state  of  cir- 
cumstances at  another  time  in  his  college  life.  In  1833  (I 


—  62— 

think  it  was)  an  unusual  religious  interest  prevailed  for 
months  among  the  pious  students.  Daily  prayer  and  confer- 
ence meetings  were  held  in  recitation  rooms,  and  smaller 
gatherings  in  students'  rooms  at  nine  o'clock  at  night,  for 
weeks,  and  an  intense  religious  fervor  was  developed;  which 
left  its  impress  upon  not  a  few  during  all  their  subsequent 
lives.  During  these  meetings  Bro.  Thomas  fell  into  mental 
struggles  and  spiritual  darkness,  which  were  most  distressing 
to  his  friends,  and  agonizing  to  himself.  He  saw  the  truth 
of  God's  justice,  and  the  criminality  of  sin,  but  could  not 
see  the  infinite  mercy  of  Christ  as  applied  to  his  own  soul. 
His  chosen  friends  among  the  students  prayed  with  him  and 
for  him,  daily  and  nightly,  rising  at  midnight  to  walk  away 
into  the  grove  with  him  to  plead  for  the  light  of  God's 
countenance.  So  resolved  was  he  to  see  the  depths  of  sin  in 
the  heart  of  man,  and  therefore  in  his  own  heart;  so  deter- 
mined to  magnify  the  infinite  holiness  of  God's  law ;  so 
honest  in  the  application  of  these  truths  to  his  own  case, 
and  yet  so  unable  to  appropriate  atoning  grace,  that  we 
often  feared  his  reason  would  give  way  under  the  stress  of 
his  agony.  He  read  and  studied  the  word  of  God  incessantly, 
and  at  length,  in  His  time,  God  brought  him  forth  into  the 
full  and  joyful  realization  of  his  love  in  Christ  Jesus.  From 
that  hour  he  was  a  bright,  trustful,  joyous,  exultant  Chris- 
tian, such  as  he  could  never  have  been  had  God  not  led  him 
through  these  depths  of  experience.  That  precious  Bible 
was  ever  afterward  the  man  of  his  counsel ;  and  with  the 
strength  of  his  massive  intellect,  and  the  wealth  of  his  ar- 
dent affections,  he  continued  to  teach  and  impress  its  sacred 
truths  while  he  lived.  The  earnest  biblical  student,  the  pro- 
found scholar,  the  faithful  pastor,  the  admirable  teacher, 
which  he  became  in  turn,  I  doubt  not  received  form  and  im- 
press largely  from  this  youthful  struggle. 

Of  the  nearly  twenty-five  years  of  Bro.  Thomas'  pastoral 
life,  the  record  is  in  many  thousand  hearts. 

During  these  years,  in  addition  to  a  faithful,  laborious  and 
successful  discharge  of  pastoral  duty,  he  took  a  leading  part 


—  63  — 

in  most  of  the  questions  which  agitated  the  councils   of  the 
State  and  the  courts  of  the  Church. 

He  was  almost  THE  FIRST,  both  in  time  and  ability,  in  our 
Church,  in  the  West,  who  thoroughly  studied  and  manfully 
defended  the  right  of  the  slave  to  freedom.  In  that  long 
struggle  for  the  right,  in  the  early  stages  of  which  so  little 
that  is  creditable  to  our  philanthropy  or  Christianity  ap- 
peared, Bro.  Thomas  always  stood  boldly  for  the  truth,  and 
with  a  strength  of  argument,  and  a  fervor  of  rhetoric  which 
few  could  equal,  battled  against  the  giant  wrong  of 
slavery,  and  this  at  times  where  it  demanded  a  heroism 
equal  to  facing  a  cannon's  mouth.  On  one  occasion  in  the 
General  Assembly,  he  and  the  now  also  sainted  Rev.  Hugh 
S.  Fullerton,  of  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  stood,  and  for  hours 
contended  against  the  almost  entire  body,  for  principles  of 
justice  and  righteousness  which  are  now  received  without 
question  by  the  entire  Church,  though  their  advocacy,  then, 
led  him  to  admit,  and  the  Assembly  to  feel,  that  he  was 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  in  earnest  upon  that  question.  He 
lived  to  see  that  truth  which  was  "  crushed  to  earth  "  many 
times  in  his  person,  "  rise  again,"  and  the  Church  and  the 
nation  stand  by  his  side  in  its  maintenance. 

After  these  earnest  discussions  in  Synod  or  General  As- 
sembly, he  would  return  to  his  pastoral  duties  and  there  re- 
sume the  study  of  God's  word  with  all  the  ardor  and  fresh- 
ness of  a  new  inspiration. 

His  ability  and  felicity  in  expounding  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
whether  with  an  isolated  text  or  an  entire  chapter  before 
him,  none  who  ever  heard  him  can  forget.  While  exhibiting 
profound  scholarship,  and  exhaustive  analysis  of  most  diffi- 
cult passages,  he  combined  simplicity  of  presentation  and 
practicalness  of  application,  so  that  the  humblest  hearer  was 
edified  under  his  ministry. 

Nor  did  he  limit  his  thoughts  and  sympathies  to  his  own 
Church  alone.  As  the  representative  of  a  great  public,  but 
not  denominational  institution  (the  American  Tract  Society), 
it  was  my  privilege  at  various  times  to  lay  before  Bro. 
Thomas,  and  his  people,  its  modes  of  working  for  Christ. 


—  64  — 

Well  do  I  remember  how  his  great  heart  swelled,  and  his 
true  catholicity  of  feeling  welled  forth,  when  he  contempla- 
ted the  vast  work  to  be  done  in  the  evangelization  of  our 
country,  and  the  zeal  and  liberality  essential  for  its  accom- 
plishment. While  he  devoledly  loved  the  doctrines'  of  his 
own  Church,  his  zeal  for  Christ  was  broader  than  denomina- 
tional bounds,  higher  than  church  walls,  and  profound  as  the 
wants  of  the  human  soul.  Hence  he  was  prompt  to  labor 
for  their  salvation  in  all  scriptural  and  approved  methods. 

It  was  during  his  last  pastorate  that  the  struggle  for  the 
nation's  life  occurred.  Not  only  the  members  of  his  own 
congregation  at  Dayton,  but  the  entire  city,  the  State,  the 
West,  aye,  the  whole  nation,  know  how  promptly,  fearlessly, 
persistently,  eloquently,  he  contended  for  the  integrity  of 
the  Union,  and  the  freedom  of  those  whose  cause  he  had 
plead  amid  obloquy  ind  scorn  for  so  many  years. 

But  in  my  opinion  the  art  and  science  of  teaching  specially 
distinguished  the  public  life  of  Dr.  Thomas.  To  this  he  de- 
voted nearly  fifteen  of  the  forty  years  of  his  professional 
life;  more  than  two  years  in  private  schools, five  as  president 
of  Hanover  College,  and  seven  as  professor  in  the  theologi- 
cal seminaries  of  New  Albany  and  Lane. 

As  a  director  of  Hanover  College  during  his  presidency, 
and  pastor  ol  the  First  Church  of  New  Albany,  during  his 
session  in  that  seminary,  I  was  brought  into  most  intimate 
relations  with  him,  and  speak  from  personal  observation. 

And  here,  his  love  for  the  truth — truth  as  against  all  super- 
ficialities and  shams  and  half  truths,  or  perverted  and  defec- 
tive statements — was  conspicuous  and  unvarying.  No  inves- 
tigation was  too  protracted  and  exhausting,  if  at  the  end  he 
attained  the  full  conviction  of  having  reached  the  bottom  of 
the  question.  Days,  weeks,  months,  he  would  pursue,  with 
marvelous  tenacity,  a  given  line  of  study,  and  when  it  was 
.mastered,  the  knowledge  became  a  part  of  his  mental  being, 
ever  after  at  hand  for  the  instruction  of  others. 

And  then  his  enthusiasm  and  skill  in  imparting  to  his 
students,  whether  collegiate  or  theological,  his  wealth  of 


—  65  — 

knowledge,  were  only  equaled  by  his  ability  to  set  them 
upon  independent  lines  of  study  for  themselves. 

In  all  these  respects  he  stood  peer  to  the  unsurpassed  and 
honored  Dr.  E.  D.  MacMaster,  his  associate  and  dearly  loved 
brother  in  New  Albany  Seminary.  Can  we  doubt,  that  they 
now  pursue  their  investigations  together  into  the  still  higher 
mysteries  of  the  heavenly  world  ? 

Dr.  Thomas,  as  Dr.  MacMaster,  bound  his  pupils  to  him  as 
intimate  personal  friends,  as  well  as  docile  and  earnest  stu- 
dents. No  ingenuous  youth,  once  under  his  tuition,  ever 
ceased  to  honor  and  revere  the  teacher.  Most  especially  was 
this  true  of  teacher  and  scholar  in  the  study  of  the  divine 
word. 

Here,  the  master's  greatest  power  and  warmest  enthusiasm 
were  displayed,  and  here  the  pupil  caught  the  fullest  in- 
spiration. Would  to  God  that  a  mantle  so  fragrant  of  divine 
truth,  and  so  shining  with  light,  might  fall  upon  all  the  pro- 
fessors in  our  colleges  and  seminaries. 

I  may  not  close  these  few  words  in  memory  of  our  dear 
Dr.  Thomas  without  a  distinct  reference  to  his  domestic  and 
social  character.  While  seated  with  him  and  his  intelligent 
and  lovely  family  under  his  ever  hospitable  roof,  you  forgot 
the  scholarly  professor,  in  the  warmth  and  unaffected  sim- 
plicity of  the  genial  and  thoroughly  human  brother.  Hap- 
pily united  with  a  cultured,  amiable  and  obedient  wife,  and 
with  children  gentle,  loving  and  obedient,  too,  his  home  be- 
came a  model  Christian  household.  This  home  was  always 
for  the  husband  and  father  a  blessed  resort  when  weary  with 
the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  public  station,  or  perplexed 
with  the  exciting  ecclesiastical  or  civil  questions  of  the  day ; 
and  here  he  found  his  sure  repose  and  sweetest  rest  Within 
this  sacred  circle  came  also,  and  because  it  was  so  sacred, 
his  sorest  earthly  trials.  Death  may  enter  some  families  and 
break  few  bonds  of  afl'ection,  because  few  exist,  but  wher^ 
heart  strings  of  husband  and  wife  and  children  are  all  en- 
twined, and  the  pulsations  of  every  heart  are  in  unison,  let 
but  one  babe  be  torn  away  from  the  circle,  and  the  very 
agony  of  dissolution  seems  to  be  suffered  by  all.  Our  de- 


—  66  — 

parted  brother  once  and  again  was  called  to  give  up  a  dear 
child  from  his  home,  and  here  came  out  the  amazing  depth 
and  strength  of  his  personal  affection. 

As  the  pastor  of  his  family,  it  was  my  sad  duty  to  bury  out 
of  his  sight  a  beautiful  and  precious  boy,  bearing  his  father's 
name,  the  darling  "  Ebenezer."  Never  did  I  see,  in  all  my 
pastoral  experience,  so  dreadful  a  struggle  between  pious 
resignation  to  the  Divine  Will,  and  overmastering  parental 
love.  But  here,  as  in  the  other  case,  grace  at  length  en- 
abled him  to  say  :  a  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away.  Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord" 

And  this  large-hearted  affection,  which  distinguished  our 
brother  in  his  family,  was  in  due  measure  extended  to  his 
early  associates  of  like  character  with  himself,  who  in  every 
instance,  I  venture  to  assert,  were  life-long  friends.  No  en- 
grossment in  public  duties,  no  separation  by  time  and  dis- 
tance, no  diversity  of  pursuits,  or  change  of  circumstances, 
ever  alienated  him  from  those  he  once  loved.  If  they  con- 
tinued worthy  of  his  affection,  and  especially  if  they  served 
that  Savior  who  had  his  supreme  devotion,  then  were  they 
always  regarded  as  his  friends  in  Christ  Jesus.  Nor  is  this 
trait  of  character  to  be  lightly  esteemed  in  a  day  when 
worldly  ambition  and  narrow  self-seeking  alienate  and 
embitter  so  many  once  bosom  friends. 

'  To  sum  up  all  in  a  few  words,  too  few  indeed,  I  recall  Dr. 
Thomas,  in  his  private  life,  as  an  affectionate  husband,  blessed 
with  a  loving  and  obedient  wife,  a  loving  father,  blessed  with 
dutiful  children,  a  true  friend  and  a  devout  Christian.  In  his 
public  relations,  as  a  noble  patriot,  a  profound  scholar,  a  suc- 
cessful teacher,  an  acute  reasoner,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and 
a  most  instructive  preacher.  Not  only  his  family  and  per- 
sonal friends,  but  the  Church  and  State  have  sustained  a  sad 
loss  in  the  death  of  our  beloved  brother,  Thomas  Ebenezer 
Thomas.  Blessed  be  God  for  his  life,  character,  labors,  and 
memory. 


—  67  — 

» 

THE    ACTION  OF  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  LANE    SEMINARY. 

The  Trustees  of  Lane  Seminary,  at  their  annual  meeting, 
May  13,  1875,  entered  upon  their  records  the  following 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Thomas  : 

On  the  second  of  February,  after  nearly  a  year  of  conflict 
with  organic  disease,  Dr.  Thomas  Ebenezer  Thomas  was  sud- 
denly called,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  to  lay  aside  his  earthly 
*  work  forever.  Both  the  pulpit  and  the  press  have  already 
recited  his  history  and  spoken  eloquently  of  his  abilities. 
Struggling  into  manhood  under  peculiar  embarrassments, 
but  made  strong  and  sinewy  by  such  struggles,  he  developed 
during  his  earlier  ministry  both  an  unusual  love  of  study  and 
culture,  and  also  an  active  spirit  of  consecration  to  his 
chosen  work,  which  were  the  certain  pledges  of  his  future 
eminence.  Most  of  his  active  life  was  spent  in  the  ministry, 
and  at  Hamilton  and  Dayton,  and  elsewhere,  he  won  for  him- 
self an  extensive  reputation  as  a  prince  among  preachers. 
Three  times  in  his  life,  in  Hant>ver  College,  in  the  Seminary 
at  New  Albany,  and  in  this  institution,  he  was  called  to  the 
spec'ial  task  of  educating  young  men  chiefly  for  the  ministry. 
It  was  a  work  which  he  greatly  enjoyed,  and  for  which,' es- 
pecially in  the  department  of  biblical  exposition,  he  had 
some  rare  qualifications.  In  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures 
in  the  original  tongues,  in  extensive  acquaintance  with  com- 
mentaries and  expositions,  in  retentiveness  of  memory, 
quickness  of  insight,  and  affluence  of  language,  and  in  a  cer- 
tain spontaneous  enthusiasm  and  aptness  to  teach,  which 
awakened  responsive  en.thusiasm  and  responsive  activity  in 
those  whom  he  taught,  he  had  few  superiors.  A  student 
rather  than  a  man  of  affairs,  and  therefore  less  prominent  in 
ecclesiastical  circles  than  he  might  have  become,  he  was  yet 
remarkably  earnest  in  his  convictions,  and  prompt  and  fear- 
less in  action  wherever  he  deemed  it  essential.  Of  slavery 
and  intemperance  and  other  social  evils,  and  of  popery  and 
all  other  forms  of  priestly  domination,  he  was  from  first  to 
last  a  resolute  foe.  Somewhat  reserved  toward  strangers, 
especially  in  later  life,  he  was  yet  bright  and  vivid  in  com- 


—  68  — 

i 

panionship,  and  warm  and  strong  in  his  personal  attach- 
ments. His  connection  with  this  institution  was  compara- 
tively brief,  extending  from  the  autumn  of  1871  to  his  de- 
cease, and  limited,  during  the  last  year,  by  his  physical 
disabilities.  His  death  at  last  was  sudden,  giving  no  oppor- 
tunity for  those  expressions  of  personal  faith  and  of  interest 
in  the  cause  of  Christ,  which  both  his  household  and  the 
Church  might,  have  coveted,  but  of  these  his  whole  life  gave 
the  best  evidence.  His  remains  are  now  resting  on  a  beau- 
tiful slope  consecrated  to  the  dead,  almost  in  sig*ht  of  the 
city,  where,  perhaps,  the  largest  part,  of  his  -ma hirer  work 
for  the  Master  was  done.  There  and  here,  and  wherever  he 
lived  and  labored,  his  memory  will  long  be  cherished  as  that 
of  an  assiduous  student,  an  eminent  preacher,  and  a  devout 
Christian  man. 


THE  ACTION  OF  THE  STUDENTS  OF  LANE  SEMINARY. 

4 

WHEREAS,  In  the  providence  of  God  we.  the  students  of 
Lane  Seminary,  have  lost  our  beloved  instructor,  Dr.  Thomas 
E.  Thomas, 

Resolved,  1.  That,  in  our  judgment,  the  Church  which  he 
dearly  loved  and  labored  for  has  sustained  a  loss  which  she 
will  long  feel  ;  that  the  truth  alter  which  he  was  an  ardent 
seeker,  and  for  which  he  contended  against  unnumbered  foes, 
has  lost  an  able  advocate;  and  the  ministry  of  which  he  has 
long  been  a  devoted  and  successful  member  has  lost  a  wise 
father,  a  reliable  counselor,  and  a  sympathetic  brother. 

2.  That  the  State  in  whose  affairs  he  was  ever  interested 
has  lost  an  estimable  and  valued   citizen,   and   the  cause   of 
liberty  an  able  and  fearless  defender. 

3.  That  in  the  death  of  Dr.  Thomas,  Lane  Seminary  has  sus- 
tained a  great  and  severe  loss,  and  the   cause  of  Christian 
learning  a  faithful  and  exceptional  patron  and  example.   The 
Faculty  have  lost  one  who  was  an  honor  to  their  number  and 
a  blessing  to  their  fellowship.     In  this  affliction,  the  students 
of  the  seminary  have  sustained  a  loss  which  is  peculiar  and 
irreparable.    ^  We   shall^ever  remember   his  incomparable 


_  69  —     . 

qualifications  as  an  instructor,  his  thorough  integrity  as  a 
man,  and  his  remarkable  sincerity  and  devotion  as  a  Chris- 
tian. While  we  mourn  his  death  we  are  thankful  for  his  life 
and  our  acquaintance  with  him.  To  have  known  him  was 
to  love  him.  We  shall  honor  his  memory  as  that  of  a 
father  and  a  friend. 

4.  That  we,  also  sufferers  in  this  affliction,  extend  heartfelt 
sympathy  and  condolence  to  the  bereaved  family  and  friends, 
and  we  commend  them  in   faith  and  love  to  our  Father  in 
heaven  and  to  the  ward  of  His  grace. 

5.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the  family 
of  the  deceased,  and  that  they  be  published  in   the  press  of 
Cincinnati  and  other  cities. 


ACTION  OF  THE  PRESBYTERY  OF  CINCINNATI,  APRIL  16,  1875. 

Presbytery  records  the  death  of  one  of  its  most  learned, 
honored  and  usful  members,  Rev.  Thomas  Ebenezer  Thomas, 
D.  D.,  Professor  of  New  Testament  Greek  and  Exegesis,  in 
Lane  Theological  Seminary,  which  occurred  on  the  second 
day  of  February,  1875.  We  tender  to  the  family  of  our  de- 
ceased brother  our  cordial  sympathy,  and  our  earnest  desire 
that  a  covenant-keeping  God  will  sustain  and  bless  his  be- 
reaved widow  and  children  in  their  painful  affliction,  and 
comfort  them  with  the  consolations  of  that  precious  gospel 
which  he  so  dearly  loved,  and  so  efficiently  commended  by 
his  life  and  labors.  While  we  would  reverently  bow  in  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God,  who  doth  all  things  well,  we 
would  express  our  painful  sense  of  the  loss  which  this  event 
brings  to  the  Church  of  which  our  departed  brother  was  a 
minister,  so  able,  efficient  and  beloved,  and  to  the  school  of 
the  prophets,  of  which  he  was  one  of  its  most  distinguished 
and  successful  instructors. 


Oh !  is  it  not  a  noble  thing  to  die 
As  dies  the  Christian,  with  his  armor  on  ? 
What  is  the  hero's  clarion,  though  its  blast 
Ring  with  the  mastery  of  a  world,  to  this  ? 
What  are  all  the  searching  victories  of  mind, 
The  lore  of  ages  vanished  ?    What  are  all 
The  trumpetings  of  proud  humanity 
To  the  short  history  of  him  who  makes 
His  sepulcher  beside,  the  King  of  kings  ? 


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